Karl-Anthony Towns posts triple-double, Jalen Brunson-less Knicks snap 3-game skid
With one second left in the third quarter of Wednesday’s road matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Knicks ran an after-timeout (ATO) inbounds play that in many ways encapsulated their entire season under new head coach Mike Brown: Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns cut to the same place outside the 3-point line, Tyler Kolek was a second late finding Landry Shamet open under the rim, and by the time Kolek saw Shamet, the closest defender applied enough pressure for the play to result in the most appropriate manner: A wedgie at the buzzer. The Knicks went on to defeat the tanking, depleted Grizzlies handily, a 130-119 win good enough to snap a depressing three-game losing streak against the Charlotte Hornets, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder. But it’s clear this Knicks team is all out of sorts.
And with just five more games on the regular season schedule before the win-loss column reverts back to 0-0, they’re running out of time to find the type of championship form capable of propelling the franchise to its first NBA Finals appearance this century. It’s a carbon copy of the dialogue that surrounded last season’s team under Tom Thibodeau before the Knicks — almost miraculously — survived a first-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, stunned the Boston Celtics in the second round courtesy of a pair of series-opening 20-point comebacks, then fell short and had their flaws exposed in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. That might be the saving grace for this Knicks team, on pace to crack 50 wins for a third season in a row and tie or surpass Thibodeau’s mark of 51 victories last year.
And Wednesday night was a step in the right direction. Because with Jalen Brunson sidelined due to ankle soreness, the Knicks — and largely Josh Hart — aggressively sought Towns on the offensive end. As a result, Towns triple-doubled for just the fourth time in his career, his second time with the Knicks, both instances occurring in games Brunson has missed due to injury.
Towns finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and seven turnovers on 8-of-12 shooting from the field in 29 minutes of action on Wednesday. He has 38 points over his last six quarters. It’s a drastic, but necessary turn of events for an underutilized star who took just 17 shots combined in the losses to Charlotte and OKC, then just two shots in the first quarter of Tuesday’s loss in Houston.
The Knicks led by as many as 22 points in the second quarter, as expected against a Memphis team with most of its opening night rotation With Robinson sidelined, however, the Knicks struggled in minutes Towns spent on the bench, particularly minutes in the head coach Mike Brown’s decision to go center-less in the third quarter. Brown went to a lineup with OG Anunoby at the five with Jose Alvarado, Josh Hart, Landry Shamet and Mikal Bridges alongside him. Memphis cut New York’s 22-point lead to nine four minutes into the third.