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Through much of the first half of Tuesday night’s contest against the Detroit Pistons, the Knicks found themselves still buried in the slump from the season’s first three games: shoddy defense, missed baskets, and sluggish transitions. At one point in the first half, they fell 13 points behind.
Then came the third. New York outscored Detroit 60-47 in the final 24 minutes of play, holding its opponents to just 13 points in the third and eventually running away with a 111-97 lead by the time the clock wound down.
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The effort was largely spearheaded by Karl-Anthony Towns. The 30-year-old center completely turned it around after the break, finishing with his fourth double-double in four games so far this season. His 57 percent shooting from the field was second on the team, only to Andre Drummond (5-for-7).
But it wasn’t until a near-brawl with Pistons starting center Paul Reed midway through the third that Towns really stepped up; he finished the first half a minus-14.
Reed, who scored nearly one-third of Detroit’s 50 first-half points (16) and finished with a team-leading 22 points and five offensive rebounds, got tangled with Towns as teammate Duncan Robinson cut New York’s lead to 10 midway through the third quarter. The two instantly became heated, but the referees stepped in before things could escalate and dealt Reed a Flagrant 1.
Then came the shift. After making his two free throws from the flagrant — his only two free throws of the night — Towns exploded for 16 of his 27 total points and tacked on eight of his 20 rebounds, recording his fifth 20-20 as a Knick.
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After the game, head coach Mike Brown commended Towns for the way he rebounded and said he had a very frank conversation with the center at halftime.
“KAT’s a grown man. He’s obviously a perennial All-Star. I just told him the truth: ‘KAT, the guy is killing us on the glass, and when he gets a rebound, he’s putting it back. Anything he gets in the paint, he’s putting it back. If he catches on the perimeter, guard him,'” Brown said. “And he did those things. I’ve got to take my hat off to KAT because I thought his shift in his…
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Publish date : 2026-10-28 05:08:00
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