ATLANTA — — Karl-Anthony Towns had his first postseason triple-double, OG Anunoby scored 22 points and the New York Knicks recovered after back-to-back losses to beat the Atlanta Hawks 114-98 on Saturday night, tying the Eastern Conference playoff series at 2-2.
Towns had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. The 11th-year All-Star became the fourth Knicks player to record a triple-double in a playoff game, joining Walt Frazier, Dick McGuire and Josh Hart.
The Knicks host Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, and the series is now guaranteed to return to Atlanta for Game 6 on Thursday.
New York took control midway through the first quarter and maintained the lead for the rest of the game. The Knicks held a 68-44 advantage at halftime and extended that lead to 20 points by the end of the third quarter.
All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, who had 19 points, thinks the Knicks carried momentum from a late surge in Game 3.
“Obviously, we didn’t win Game 3, but I think the way we played in the second half as a team propelled us to play the way we did tonight,” he said. “We’re trying to continue to push that forward.”
New York, after one-point losses in the previous two games, was able to return to form behind its core of Brunson, Towns and Anunoby.
“The way we’ve been able to (play on both sides of the ball) these past five quarters is how we’ve got to play,” Brunson said.
Defensively, that means minimizing CJ McCollum, the point guard who carried the Hawks to Game 2 and 3 victories.
McCollum again led Atlanta in scoring with 17 points, but he didn’t have the same impact as the last two games. New York held McCollum scoreless beyond the arc after he made nine 3-pointers in the first three games.
“CJ’s a handful, so we’ve just got to keep trying to find ways to show him different looks,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
New York also held Nickeil Alexander-Walker to 15 points and All-Star Jalen Johnson to 14.
“Let’s go Knicks!” “Let’s go Knicks!” chants erupted through State Farm Arena as the Knicks led by as much as 24 points in the fourth quarter. Both teams had their reserves in with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
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