Karl-Anthony Towns' performance and debut for the New York Knicks this season has been cinematic.
His offense has been electric, able to stretch the floor for New York with ease with his consistent three ball and his finishing. On defense, though, he's been surprisingly solid despite the Knicks still struggling some nights with their rim protection. His help defense in the post and ability to prevent an avalanche of scoring in the paint have both been stellar and sorely needed sans Mitchell Robinson.
With the Knicks set to host the Denver Nuggets and their perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokić at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, we're also set to get another battle between Jokić and Towns - and right now, the advantage goes to Towns in that matchup.
Towns has chance to dominate Jokic matchup once again
Towns managed to hold Jokić to just 59 points on 44 percent shooting and 19 percent shooting from three during the second round of the NBA Playoffs in 2024. The series between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Nuggets went to seven games, so holding him to just 59 points is a pretty huge feat.
Towns, on the other hand, had the best postseason run of his career with the Timberwolves last season, and that included his series against Jokić and the Nuggets. He scored 130 points in that series, and shot below 40 percent in just one of those games in the series.
In his career, he's put up 24.2 points per game along with 11.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists against Jokić. It wasn't just a postseason thing - Towns just loves facing off with Jokić.
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In the Knicks' prior regular season matchup with Denver since acquiring Towns, Jokić scored just 22 points on 9-22 shooting, whereas Towns had 30 points on 12-15 shooting. New York completely routed Denver in that November 2024 contest, winning by 27.
Towns has an opportunity to continue to show off his dominance over Jokić in this game, especially as New York has looked very spry defensively behind some great play from their wings Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby. If Towns just has to worry about locking down Jokić, then there's a great chance that'll win that battle again.
It's nice to see that Towns takes this matchup seriously. Whether it's just old Western Conference beef or big man pride, when considering how another great big like Joel Embiid barely ever takes on Jokić in the regular season, you have to tip your hat to Towns' committment to battling with him.
This'll be a very key game for the Knicks, but yet another chance for Towns to show why he deserves to be in the MVP conversation alongisde Jokić.