Karl-Anthony Towns scores 31, Knicks take ninth-straight with 119-103 win over Jazz

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Karl-Anthony Towns scored 31 points and corralled 21 rebounds and Josh Hart recorded a triple-double as the Knicks grabbed a ninth-straight win, topping the visiting Utah Jazz 119-103 on Wednesday night.

Jalen Brunson missed the game due to a tight right calf injury, the first time he’s been absent this season. But after a tight start to the first quarter, his teammates found their fitting without him erasing a 10-point deficit for a convincing win.

“They all stepped up… KAT just a monster game,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “A good hard-fought win, just find a way to win. And that’s what the season is, next guy get in there and get the job done.”

For the shorthanded Knicks, who used just an eight-man rotation, it all came down to playing their team game.

“As a team, if you prioritize winning and doing what’s best for the group, that’s what makes it enjoyable,” the head coach said. “You have everyone committed to each other. When you do that, good things come from that.”

New York improved to 24-10 on the season and 11-4 at Madison Square Garden. Utah fell to 7-25.

Here are the takeaways…

– Hart, the player who is anywhere and everywhere all at once for the Knicks, cashed in with eight rebounds and five assists in the first half. A triple-double seemed unlikely as he had just three points, but he took care of that with three in the third and nine in the fourth. He had 14 rebounds and 12 assists but was dinged for six turnovers. He finished as a plus-15 in 45 minutes. With that he became the first Knick since Michael Ray Richardson in 1981 to record triple-doubles in back-to-back games and the fifth in franchise history.

– Without Brunson, the Knicks offense started slow – 4-for-12 from the floor – and found themselves down 18-10 at the mid-way point of the first quarter. But the defense, which has been maligned in recent weeks, tightened the screws getting three turnovers on three straight possessions. That was all part of a 16-7 run by the Knicks to close the quarter and cut it to a one-point deficit after 12 minutes.

Mikal Bridges picked up the slack early on the offensive end scoring 16 in the first half…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/karl-anthony-towns-scores-31-030000286.html

Author : SNY

Publish date : 2025-01-02 03:00:00

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