For the New York Knicks, all it took was a little heat to douse the Miami Heat.
Karl-Anthony Towns' scorching start to the second quarter flipped the Knicks' fortunes in their latest win, as the All-Star center put up 15 tallies in a row during a 116-95 triumph over South Beach. That set a record for most consecutive Knicks points in a single game since play-by-play stats started being recorded in 1996-97, passing the prior mark of 12 from Michael Sweetney set in 2004.
"It just got hot, it just got hot," Towns said of his epic second in his postgame interview with Alan Hahn of MSG Network. "It just started making shots and my teammates trusted me with the ball. I'm glad I could repay their trust with some made shots."
"Nah," center Mitchell Robinson added when asked if he had ever seen anyone score 15 in a row, in video from SNY. "But that s*** was epic."
Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in two weeks, the Knicks (43-24) let things get out of hand early: the reeling Heat scored the first dozen points of the game and even a 10-tally outburst from Mikal Bridges wasn't enough to make the early gap look respectable, as Miami led 29-18 after the first dozen.
From there, however, Towns wasted no time seizing momentum back after re-entering the game at the onset of the second: the deficit reached 13 points but Towns then put in seven on three consecutive possessions to shrink the deficit to six and force a Miami timeout. A dunk with assistance from Josh Hart and back-to-back triples gave the Knicks their first lead of the night at 33-31 with just over seven minutes to go in the second.
Ironically enough, it was a heat check that checked the Heat, who fell victim to a Knicks season sweep for the first time since 1992-93. A Towns triple from the cusp of the Knicks oversized midcourt emblem to close things out was fully intentional. In video from SNY, Towns said he demanded the ball from Hart and wasn't taking no for an answer despite the early dire circumstances.
"If I was one step in front of halfcourt, I was shooting it," Towns said. "I wanted it that far away. I ain't gonna lie. I was going to shoot the Hail Mary for sure. That was a heat check."
Towns heralded the epic triple with a celebration no doubt inspired by Jalen Brunson's post-three antics. Appropriately enough, Towns has played a major role in helping the Knicks stay afloat sans the injured Brunson: in the five games Brunson has missed due to an ankle injury, Towns is averaging 24.4 points on over 53 percent from the field while pulling in nine rebounds.
Towns will look to keep the momentum rolling on Wednesday, when the Knicks open a back-to-back in San Antonio (8 p.m. ET, MSG).
