Karl Anthony-Towns totaled 20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first career playoff triple-double as the New York Knicks earned a 114-98 victory over the host Atlanta Hawks and evened their Eastern Conference first-round series at two games apiece on Saturday night.
Towns ensured Game 5 on Tuesday in New York will not be an elimination game for the Knicks and also ensured the series returns to Atlanta for Game 6 on Thursday.
Towns posted his fifth career triple-double in any game. He also notched the seventh postseason triple-double in New York’s history and joined Dick McGuire, Walt Frazier and Josh Hart as the fourth player with a postseason triple-double in team history.
Towns secured his 10th rebound when he grabbed a missed jumper by Jalen Brunson and converted the putback in the final seconds of the third to give the Knicks an 86-65 lead into the fourth quarter. The center recorded his 10th assist by finding OG Anunoby for an open corner 3 to put the Knicks up 90-66 with 10:46 left.
Anunoby led the Knicks with 22 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career playoff double-double. Jalen Brunson added 19, including a 3 as the shot clock was expiring for a 104-80 lead with 5:26 left.
Miles McBridge chipped in 11 off the bench while Hart collected 10 points and nine rebounds. Mikal Bridges remained in the starting lineup after going scoreless in Game 3 and contributed eight points.
The Knicks shot 49.4%, made 14 of 31 3-pointers (45.2%) and led for the final 42:40.
CJ McCollum led the Hawks with 17 points but was held to three points after halftime. McCollum shot 8-of-15 but missed four of five shots in the second half.
Nickell Alexander-Walker added 15 and hit five 3s, but the Hawks were a dreadful 10 of 41 (24.4%) from behind the arc.
Jalen Johnson finished with 14 but shot 4 of 12. Onyeka Okongwu contributed 12, but Dyson Daniels was held to six points.
Atlanta shot 41.5% and conceded 21 points off 19 turnovers
Brunson was 3 of 10 in the opening quarter, but the Knicks clamped down defensively and held Atlanta to 36.8% (7 of 19) shooting en route to a 27-20 lead.
The Knicks took their first double-digit lead when Bridges was credited with a basket due to a goaltending call on Atlanta a little over a minute into the second. Brunson returned with 7:31 left and his open 3 pushed the lead to 41-29 with 6:56 remaining.
New York took a trio of 16-point leads in the final minutes of the second quarter and held a 58-44 lead by halftime. Atlanta cut the lead to 61-53 on a basket by Okongwu with 8:26 left, and the Knicks countered by scoring 11 straight points with Brunson on the bench.
