Barbara Barker: Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns has become toast of the town in New York

GREENBURGH — It has been a heady couple of days for Karl-Anthony Towns.

On Thursday, the Knicks center helped eliminate the Hawks in six games by posting his second triple-double in three games. Later that night, Towns and his fiancee, Jordyn Woods, celebrated the 140-89 win by going on a double date with Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner. Then, on Friday, “The Devil Wears Prada II” opened, complete with a timely Towns cameo in which Anne Hathaway compliments him on having a great series.

Suddenly, Towns is the toast of the town, which is something absolutely no one would have predicted even a month ago.

No player was the subject of more heated debate during the regular season than Towns, a second All-Star who was brought in before last season to join Jalen Brunson and help the Knicks build a championship contender.

This season, Towns struggled to adjust to new coach Mike Brown’s offense for the first five months. He often looked like an afterthought as his shot attempts and scoring averages in the regular season were both career lows. He was criticized for his lack of aggression on offense, his lack of hustle on defense and even his expressive body language as he made it clear on the floor that he was frustrated by the whole situation.

Just when many were coming to the conclusion that Towns and Brunson were simply a poor fit, the Knicks made a change that was instrumental in closing out the series with three straight wins and bringing a much-needed fluidity to an attack that had become too Brunson-centric.

Starting with Game 4, the Knicks began running their offense more consistently through Towns. He rewarded them by taking his game to a new level.

Karl-Anthony Towns in The Devil Wears Prada 2! 🌟

[via @20thcentury] pic.twitter.com/jXpEz9EkXh

— Knicks Fan TV 🏀🎥📺🏁 (@KnicksFanTv) May 1, 2026

Towns recorded his first career playoff triple-double in Game 4, finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Five days later, he did it again with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 28 minutes, setting an NBA record for fastest playoff triple-double ever.

Equally remarkable: He achieved the second triple-double despite taking only four shots and making one.

“He’s played phenomenal,” Brunson said after the Game 6 clincher. “The way we’ve been able to trust each other, all of us obviously including him, it’s been great.”

Towns hasn’t stepped it up only on offense. In six games against the Hawks, he had 10 blocks and 10 steals. That’s well ahead of where he was in the playoffs last season, when in 18 playoff games, he totaled 12 blocks and 13 steals in the Knicks’ run to the Eastern Conference finals.

“I thought KAT was amazing,” Josh Hart said of his defense after Game 6. “To start the game blitzing, protecting the rim, he had some big blocks, his energy was huge for us. I just think the physicality, the attention to detail, focus on the game plan, I think all those are at a very high level.”

Perhaps the biggest measure of Towns’ impact in the Knicks’ three straight wins to close out the series is that his team outscored Atlanta by 62 points when he was on the floor.

It’s possible that none of this would have happened if Atlanta hadn’t come up with a game plan designed to frustrate Brunson in Games 2 and 3. Brunson, who was smothered by the Hawks’ defense at the end of Game 3, ended up turning the ball over on the final play of the 109-108 loss.

“I’ve got to give Atlanta credit,” Brown said. “They forced us to put our thinking caps on. And they forced us to play different, find ways to make the game easier for our players while putting them in their strengths, while trying not to hinder them.”

There are plenty of advantages to running the offense through a player the size of the 7-foot Towns. By making him the hub of their offense at the beginning of possessions, it allows other players to cut and set screens around him. With his size advantage, Towns can see over defenders to find the open man, which can lead to a much more fluid offense.

This flexibility is sure to help the Knicks in the next round against the 76ers, who beat the Celtics, 109-100, in Game 7 of their conference semifinal series on Saturday night in Boston.

Towns had been honest throughout the season about struggling to find his way in Brown’s offense, repeatedly saying “I don’t know” when asked what he thought his role was. Now, one series into the playoffs, he certainly looks as if he understands what the Knicks need from him.

“I never doubted my ability,” he said. “I never doubted the work I put in. It’s just, you got to adjust, you gotta adjust. Especially with a lot of new things being thrown at you. You’re being asked to do a lot more things, some things that haven’t consistently been asked of me in my career. It’s one thing that anyone who knows me, who’s followed my career, knows. I’m willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes for the team to win.”