It didn’t take too long for Knicks fans to witness the true potential of Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns scored 44 points in 38 minutes in New York’s 116-107 win over the Miami Heat.
Towns didn’t just throw up points either; he did it efficiently — he connected on 17-for-25 shots from the field and went 4-of-5 from three. He also led his team as a +15 in the game.
This big performance also came when the Knicks needed him to step up, as Jalen Brunson was the only other New York player to surpass 20 points on the night with 22.
After trying to find his footing wearing the orange and blue, Towns allowed New York to experience exactly what they hoped was possible when they traded for the four-time All-Star just before the start of the 2024-25 season.
Before scoring 44, Towns only netted 13 points on Monday, 21 in his Madison Square Garden debut and just 12 in the season opener.
Even though this is Towns’ first big offensive game for the Knicks, he has been productive overall. He’s posted a double-double in three of his first four games. Towns entered the night shooting exactly 50% from the field and 66.7% from three while averaging 15.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game so far.
Wednesday night was a big deal for Towns, though.
In fact, Towns’ 44-point masterpiece now ranks as the fifth-highest-scoring game of his career. He finished only three points shy of the 47 he ironically scored against the Knicks for the Minnesota Timberwolves in November of 2016.
Towns is no stranger to big games in the No. 2 option role. This was made evident last season when he set a new personal best of 62 on Jan. 22 as Anthony Edwards’ running mate in Minnesota.
And while Towns was added to serve as the “Robin” to Brunson’s “Batman” and help get the Knicks over the hump and to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000, he showed that he can put the cape on himself and save the day when called upon.
