The Knicks needed someone to step up offensively on Sunday night.
Time and time again this season that person has been Jalen Brunson — there’s a reason he won the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award — but this time it was someone else’s turn to put the team on their back.
After a rough first two and a half frames at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Knicks found themselves struggling to get into a groove and trailing the Indiana Pacers by double digits late in the third.
Finally, Miles McBride came off the bench and put together a 7-0 scoring run of his own to get them back within single digits heading into the fourth.
New York ran with that momentum from there and Karl-Anthony Towns completely took things over offensively — dominating during an incredible scoring run in which he put the team square on his back.
“He made some tough shots for us,” Josh Hart said. “He showed his ability to get to the rim, his ability to post-up, his ability to space the floor. He’s a tough matchup for anybody in the league when he has it going like that — it’s great for us.”
The most notable bucket during that stretch was a monstrous slam on Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, which gave the Knicks their first lead since early in the first quarter — and they went on to pull out the come-from-behind win.
Towns became just the second player in franchise history to put together a 20-point quarter in the playoffs.
“My teammates were just putting me in spots to succeed and I wanted to capitalize on the opportunity,” Towns said. “All of us were just doing whatever it takes to win the game and put ourselves in a position to get back in the game — shoutout to the locker room.”
