Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart drive Knicks over Pacers
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns reacts after hitting a basket and being fouled against the Indiana Pacers during the first half of an NBA game in Indianapolis on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks were already without OG Anunoby once again as they took the court at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the house of horrors where they dropped three playoff games last season on their way to an Eastern Conference Semifinals exit.
And in the opening minutes of the second half Jalen Brunson was sent to the bench with his fifth foul. He would0 remain there until there was just 5:39 left in the game.
But with a first-half explosion from Karl-Anthony Towns and a dominant second half from Josh Hart the Knicks had more than enough to get back on track with a 128-115 win over the Indiana Pacers.
“They picked me up,” Brunson said. “I was of no help today. And just thankful that I have them as teammates and they are unbelievable.
“Josh played his butt off today. I don’t know what else to say about that. He was just a monster.”
Towns led the Knicks with 40 points and 12 rebounds while Hart had a season-high 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. It was the first 30-10 game of his career. With 1:34 left Brunson could retreat to the sideline again as the Knicks emptied the bench to the loud chants of, “Let’s go Knicks,” as the Pacers fans rushed for the exits.
“What Josh did, it’s what we needed to win,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He was everywhere, flying around, doing everything.”
“JB finally wants to try to play defense and he just fouls the whole time,” Hart joked. “He took himself out. I was just trying to be aggressive. Every game I let the game tell me what to do. Today it was the scoring side.”
Brunson, who had just eight points and seven assists in 23 minutes, left the game with the Knicks leading by nine and after an absence of more than 15 minutes he returned to the game with the bench having extended the gap to a 16-point advantage.
Towns had carried the load in the first half and seemed to come up with huge buckets every time the Pacers tried to make a run. Indiana was without Myles Turner and Towns took advantage.
“Take what the defense gives me and capitalize on opportunities,” Towns said. “So just, let the game come to me, my teammates found me the ball and I was able to capitalize.”
Towns had 24 points in the first half, but it was two of his three assists that were the must-see highlights. Towns putting up a huge scoring night after a quiet performance has become a regular sight this season, at least on the rare nights he’s had quiet scoring efforts. But the passes were things of beauty and just hard to imagine from a 7-foot center.
Early in the second quarter Towns whipped a no-look pass from the top of the key to find Landry Shamet cutting backdoor on the defender. And then with 2:29 to play in the first half Towns came up with a steal against Tyrese Haliburton. He faked a behind the back pass, causing Haliburton to fly by him, before leading the break up the other end. He then found Josh Hart cutting from the left side with a two-hand bounce pass that Hart dropped in and drew a foul on Aaron Nesmith for a three-point play and a 61-50 lead.
With the Knicks leading 74-65 Brunson was called for his fifth foul with 8:42 left in the third quarter as he battled for a loose ball after he turned it over. It was just 48 seconds after he’d been called for his fourth foul on another turnover. But the Knicks managed a 98-88 lead through three as Hart scored 12 points in the quarter on 6-for7 shooting with four rebounds.
It wasn’t just Hart though. Cam Payne entered when Brunson went to the bench and immediately took charge, putting up nine points and eight assists in 24 minutes while Deuce McBride added 15 points, connecting on 4-for-4 from three-point range and compiling a plus-25 in 25 minutes.
“Huge minutes,” Hart said of the bench group. “Cam brought energy, Deuce brings energy all the time. [Landry Shamet] played great minutes defensively, knocked down some shots. Those three guys were huge for us and the reason we really pushed that lead out. We need to continue to have them play that way.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
