{"id":112587,"date":"2024-12-16T20:55:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T01:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=112587"},"modified":"2024-12-16T20:55:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T01:55:13","slug":"knicks-towns-milestone-dominance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/16\/knicks-towns-milestone-dominance\/","title":{"rendered":"KAT’s Dominance Making Knicks A Real Eastern Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

In keeping it real, the\u00a0<\/span>Boston Celtics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and Cleveland Cavaliers are the class of the Eastern Conference. That said, the New York Knicks are <\/span>right<\/span> behind them in the standings and have kicked it into gear in recent weeks. Much of the Knick’s better play in that time has come on the heels of\u00a0<\/span>Karl-Anthony Towns<\/span><\/a>. To commemorate his outstanding play of late, he hit a Knicks franchise milestone in the form of a statistical streak not reached in over a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

KAT’s Dominance Making Knicks A Real Eastern Threat<\/h2>\n

Karl-Anthony Towns Reaches Knicks Franchise Milestone Set by Former Center<\/h3>\n

Towns is rearing his head as a dominant force for the Knickerbockers. It’s what they envisioned him to be when they traded for him in what felt like minutes before the NBA season began. It took him a few weeks to align with his new teammates. But even while the on-court relationship building was coming together, Towns showed signs of being a different player. Chalk it up to being put in a different environment, position, or style of play handed down by\u00a0<\/span>Tom Thibodeau<\/span><\/a>. Or, maybe it has a lot to do with playing alongside\u00a0<\/span>Jalen Brunson<\/span><\/a>\u2014a type of player KAT has never played with. Whatever the reasons, KAT has fit like a glove, excelling for the Knicks in <\/span>big<\/span> ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

That brings us to KAT’s recent feat in the Knicks win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday. <\/span>Back in<\/span> 2009, then-Knicks center\u00a0<\/span>David Lee<\/span><\/a>\u00a0maintained a stretch of 15 games, achieving a double-double in each game. No Knicks player has done it since then until KAT hit game 15 in Orlando<\/span>, notching his 15th consecutive double-double<\/span><\/a>. And my oh my, he hit the milestone in dominating fashion, notching 22 points, 22 rebounds, and five assists in 43 minutes. That stat line only further highlights Towns’ season in a nutshell so far. He’s averaging 24.7 points and 14.9 rebounds per game while shooting a remarkable 43.9% from downtown.<\/span><\/p>\n

KAT Is Emerging As the Team Catalyst<\/h3>\n

Now 26 games in, Towns has proved to have found his footing with his new team. The Knicks are also surging after a sluggish start to the season. Mind you, a few teams struggling initially are slowly finding their way. The Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, and\u00a0<\/span>Milwaukee Bucks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are perfect examples of turnaround teams. In New York’s case, Towns’ impact has rippled down to his teammates.\u00a0<\/span>Brunson is thriving<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in the Knicks offense, and\u00a0<\/span>Josh Hart<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is having one of the better seasons of his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Knicks boast one of the best-starting fives in the league. Towns has been instrumental in their success and recent consistency in winning games. His threat from three is the perfect weapon because he’s one of the league’s few bigs that defenders must run out to the perimeter and defend. In doing so, his teammates on the floor have all the space between the basket and the three-point line to find positioning because KAT isn’t taking up space. The Knicks offense, as dynamic and threatening as it is in its totality, is best run through Towns, considering the threat he presents all over the offensive zone. He truly is the perfect compliment for Brunson and Hart, who carry and distribute the ball the most. They’re not Boston, but these Knicks are showing their prowess, and the season is not yet 30 games in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In keeping it real, the\u00a0Boston Celtics\u00a0and Cleveland Cavaliers are the class of the Eastern Conference. That said, the New York Knicks are right behind them in the standings and have kicked it into gear in recent weeks. Much of the Knick’s better play in that time has come on the heels of\u00a0Karl-Anthony Towns. To commemorate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":112593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,12],"tags":[431,1417,1004,213,215],"class_list":["post-112587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-knicks","tag-david-lee","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112601,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112587\/revisions\/112601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}