Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 44 points on Heat in his first big game for Knicks

His first three games in a Knicks jersey weren’t spectacular, as Karl-Anthony Towns hit 12, 21 and 13 points during those performances. This is why the press asked coach Tom Thibodeau about what he was expecting to get from his new recruit before confronting their classic rivalry against the Heat last night in South Beach.

The former Wolves star answered the question himself this Wednesday evening, as he delivered with a 44-point display at the Kaseya Center, which is by far the most any New York players has scored this season in a single game. The big man led his squad to a 116-107 victory.

KAT holds his second-best scoring average vs. opponent team against the Heat, so he was naturally asked about why he enjoys playing in Miami so much. “The weather,” he said aware of his 25.4 point-average against the Florida club. “I was in Minnesota. It’s cold. It’s hot here. I like that.”

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The talented big man, who already had 24 points scored by halftime, came in even stronger in the second stage of the game. Not only was he 17-of-25 last night, and grabbed 13 rebounds in total, his scoring tally became the fourth-most points ever made by a Knicks player in this rivalry against the Heat.

If it wasn’t enough, his 44 points were the most made in a single contest by a New York center since Patrick Ewing did almost 30 years ago. With his stat line, he became the first to produce 40+ point game, with over 10 rebounds and 56% shooting since Carmelo Anthony did in 2014.

His coach was certainly impressed. “I love his approach because he’s not forcing anything,” Thibodeau said. “He’s letting the game come to him. I want him to be assertive and everything, but I want him to let the game come to him. He’s a very gifted scorer, as you saw tonight. … He can hurt you a lot of different ways.”

On the other hand, Towns knows what he needs to bring every night in New York. “They’re gritty. They find a way to win. They never quit,” KAT said. “Bringing that New York mentality every single night, it’s something that you recognize when you get to live in that kind of culture.”

Ever since their first loss of the season against the reigning champions, the Knicks knew something had to change defensively this season

Ever since the New York squad lost their season-opener against the Celtics in a dominant 132-109 defeat, coach Thibodeau knew exactly what went wrong and needed to change immediately before confronting the rest of the campaign: the way they were approaching their defence.

“We’ll take a look at what we did, what we had to fix, get back to work,” Tom said after falling to the reigning champions last week. “Every game reveals things to you. Sometimes you do things well, sometimes not as well as you need to. But understand why you lost or won and take the necessary steps to move forward.”

KAT, who only dropped 12 points that opening night in Massachusetts, agreed with his boss and told the press that he believes they have enough firepower to contend for an NBA title. However, the problem seemed to be on the other side of the court.

“I feel very confident in our offense. We’ve got to bring that defensive identity that’s going to make us special,” Towns shared last week. “Once we figure that out, we’ll take that next step and we’ll be able to be the team we want to be.”