Karl-Anthony Towns had one of his best games as a Knick on Friday night. He scored 27 points in the first half - and 32 overall – in New York’s home win over Milwaukee.
Afterward, Towns credited Jalen Brunson for his big night.
“Yeah, just it starts with cap’. Cap’ put us in positions to succeed. The gravity he was making with his talent, putting us all in spots to succeed,” Towns said after hitting 12 of 20 shots against the Bucks.
Brunson assisted on eight of Towns’ 12 makes.
“He put me in spots to utilize my talent… so shoutouts to cap -- and all of us -- together just doing what we need to do to win the game,” Towns said afterward.
The Knicks improved to 4-4 with the win, snapping a two-game losing streak. Milwaukee fel to 2-7.
“It’s a good solid win. It’s improvement,” Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “That’s what we’re shooting for every day. Just keep getting better.”
The Knicks improved to 4-4 on the season. Milwaukee dropped to 2-7.
Carmelo Anthony visited the home locker room after the win. He visited with Brunson and spent several minutes talking to Towns.
“I’m a huge Carmelo Anthony fan,” Towns said afterward. “….If I could have the career he’s had, I’d be very, very, very blessed and honored.”
Towns has had a strong start to the season; he’s averaging 24 points and hitting 56 percent of his three-point attempts (4.5 per game).
Towns is also playing center regularly again for the first time in two seasons.
He played the five for only five percent of his 2000+ minutes last year; he was mostly lined up at power forward next to Rudy Gobert.
“I don’t just lose the ability to play the five,” Towns said on Friday when asked about being back at center.
The 28-year-old said his strong start this season is “just being able to do what I did a lot of years at the five.”
“I feel I’m a better version of myself,” Towns said. “I’m smarter, more experienced, I think I’m more talented than I’ve ever been. So being able to utilize that for our team is what I want to do every single night so it can translate to wins.”
JUST WHAT THE DOC ORDERED
Before the Knicks’ decisive win over Milwaukee, Bucks coach Doc Rivers guaranteed that Tom Thibodeau’s club will eventually figure things out.
“I know the Knicks coach and I know that he’s going to get it all together. I’m sure of that,” Rivers said during his pregame press conference on Friday. “Tom’s a phenomenal coach. And they made changes. They made changes to their core guys. And you don’t just, chemistry is an amazing thing. They had it last year and they’ll get it back. You don’t just wake up and have it. It takes time. It will come for them, I guarantee it.”
Rivers and the Bucks fell to 2-7 on Friday; they trailed by 30 points in the second half. Rivers before the game said he believed his team would eventually get untracked.
“I think we have a lot of good things here. We've gotten off to a tough start. Kind of a quirky schedule (early); we haven't played well... (but) it's gonna come together. I'm not concerned about that. I really am not,” Rivers said. “I think everyone else may be outside of us. I don't think anybody in our building is concerned. But the talk is all great, and all that stuff. You've still got to win games."