The center that the Knicks thought they were trading for when they shipped Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle to Minnesota finally showed up in the biggest game of the season for New York.
Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 31 points in a 118-116 win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 3 of the first round. The scoring clinic came just one game after Towns only scored 10 points in 33 minutes of play in Game 2, in which the Knicks fell to the Pistons 100-94.
From the first whistle, it was clear that the Knicks' big man was not playing around. In the first four minutes of the game, he had already taken three field goal attempts and two free throws. The start was quite the contrast from the ending of Game 2, where Towns did not attempt a shot in the final 15 minutes of play.
The three was falling!
It wasn't just the 31 points, it was how Towns got them. The Knicks' first field goal attempt was a Towns transition three, which he took trailing the play. Within the next few minutes Towns took two more trailing transition threes, both of which he made.
It was an extremely welcoming sight for Knicks fans, many of whom have been pounding their chests and screaming for Towns to shoot more threes. In 41 minutes, he took a team-high eight of them, draining four.
It didn't matter if the Pistons were guarding him with a big wing like Tobias Harris, as they have for most of the series, or if it was a traditional center like Jalen Duren, Towns was dominating whoever was in his path.
If there was an area of his game to critique, it was his two-man game with Jalen Brunson. For some reason that is completely unbeknownst to me, there seems to be a huge reluctance for Towns to operating as the screener when Brunson is handling the ball. That is not to say they didn't run any pick and roll actions, but it should be something they spam, especially when Towns is being guarded by a traditional center like Duren.
Outside of his scoring, Towns added eight rebounds, two steals, and a block.
The Clutch Man was clutch
For much of the game, the Knicks' best offensive player didn't look like himself. Jalen Brunson had 13 points at halftime, while shooting only three of eight from the field. But, in typical Brunson fashion, he finished the game with 30 points, with 10 of them coming in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
The 10 points in a close game down the stretch shouldn't come as a surprise to Knicks fans; if anything, they should be expected. The recently crowned Clutch Player of the Year has been doing this all year long and seems to only play better when the stakes get higher.