ATLANTA — Karl-Anthony Towns started the job in Hotlanta. OG Anunoby finished it.
After the Knicks blew an 18-point lead against the struggling Hawks, Anunoby arrived with the two biggest plays of Saturday night’s 128-125 win: the free throws to take the lead with 29.6 seconds left, followed by a steal by Trae Young on the next possession.
Finally, Anunoby, who struggled with his shot much of the evening, finished with four free throws, a steal and two boards in the final 30 seconds as the Knicks celebrated after Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s potential game-tying trey clanked off the rim at the buzzer.
“I told him this. OG is an All-Star if he wants to be one,” Mike Brown said. “He can do so much with his size, his length, his strength, his athleticism and his touch. He just has to impose his will on the game every time he plays.”
“He was fantastic. In the clutch he was great. Great.”
Before that finish, Towns was the hero with 36 points and 16 boards, dominating the small Hawks lineup.
Cities celebrated from the foul line and was rewarded with whistles for his aggressive and controlled style as he connected on 17 of 18 free throws. Towns also grabbed boards and hit three treys, a feat that became necessary because Jalen Brunson wasn’t at his All-NBA best.
“I loved [Towns’ aggressiveness]Brown said. ‘I spoke to him in front of the team. When he screens and rolls, we are a different team because the pressure he puts on defenses in his roll is incredible. Because if it stays in the pocket, it’s a shawl. He gets fouled or he gets fouled and he scores because his momentum is going that way and he’s so fast. He’s a monster when he rolls.”
Brunson, meanwhile, scored 34 points but took 29 shots, and he also committed a near-disastrous turnover with less than a minute to go by getting stripped by Alexander-Walker.
It would have been an ugly collapse after the Knicks led by 18 midway through the third quarter and led by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Hawks (15-18) battled back in the fourth quarter but dropped their sixth consecutive game, all without Kristaps Porzingis. The former Knick remains ill with an illness after being diagnosed last season with a condition that causes, among other things, a rapid heart rate.
Even excluding Porzingis’ extended absence, Atlanta is a disappointment and has been linked to a possible trade for Dallas’ Anthony Davis.
The Knicks? They are still cruising at 22-9 and are still the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, winning eight of their last ten.
They also navigate injuries and lineup experiments.
With Josh Hart and Miles McBride both shelved Saturday with ankle sprains, Brown shook up his rotation in a surprising way.
Rookie Mohamed Diawara started for the second time this season, taking over for Hart, who will miss at least two more games.
Much more surprising, Brown’s first substitute off the bench was two-way signing Kevin McCullar Jr. was, who came in with a total of 10 minutes this season on Saturday.
It turned out to be a smart move by Brown, who saw McCullar go for six points and six rebounds in the first half. McCullar, whose positive comparison after college was Hart, became a revelation as New York took a 13-point lead into intermission.
So the Knicks didn’t have Josh Hart, but they got enough of his stunt double.
McCullar, whose NBA career was halted last season by a persistent knee problem, finished with 13 points in 23 minutes on 4-for-7 shooting with eight rebounds, including four offensively. He even made a Hart-like dive near the bench for a loose ball.
“[McCullar] was fantastic,” Towns said, “and he was exactly what we say when we say ‘next man,’ and the bench was a spark when we really needed it to win the game.
It complemented Towns’ versatile play and Anunoby’s late-game heroics.
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