Karl-Anthony Towns has not been shy about letting it be known that he believes he is sacrificing for the team.
Earlier in the season, Knicks coach Mike Brown said that Towns — who got off to a slow start, at least in terms of his efficiency — had the biggest adjustment in the offensive system.
Then about midway through the season, Brown acknowledged that he made some changes to get Towns going.
Towns finally looks comfortable and is playing his best basketball of the season. In 14 games since the All-Star break, he is averaging 20.9 points per game on 58.9 percent shooting from the field and 43.1 percent shooting from 3-point range.
In the 51 games before the break, Towns averaged 19.8 points per game, but on a much worse 46.6 percent shooting from the field and 35.1 percent shooting from deep.
“I just wanna be in the spots I’m supposed to be and impact winning,” Towns said after Tuesday’s win over the Pacers. “I’ve been asked to take a different role this year and I’m glad I’m impacting winning and maximizing being the star of my role. Just doing whatever our team needs so that we can be the best version of ourselves, especially right now, we’re getting late in the season where we need to build better standards.”
Josh Hart is starting to rediscover his shooting form.
Over the past five games, he went 9-for-14 from 3-point range, helped by his 5-for-5 showing Tuesday.
Hart’s 3-point efficiency had been the best of his career in the first half of the year, but he struggled badly coming out of the All-Star break.
His ability to be an at least serviceable shooter is important for the Knicks offense, since opponents often put their center on him and sag off him to help on others when he struggles with his shot.
“I think since the All-Star [break], obviously I had been struggling in terms of shooting,” Hart said Tuesday. “I think I’m kind of in my head in terms of a lot of stuff. So I just gotta trust my work, go out there and shoot my shots.”
Jose Alvarado is already tied for fifth on the Knicks defensive player of the game leaderboard despite playing just 19 games with the team. He earned his third recognition for Tuesday’s win.
