Karl-Anthony Towns' high-scoring first half fuels Knicks' 140-132 win vs. Heat

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Nov 14, 2025

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NEW YORK — This is what it looks like when the Big Bodega is open for business.

With Jalen Brunson sidelined by a Grade 1 ankle sprain suffered late in Wednesday’s loss to the Magic, all eyes shifted to Karl-Anthony Towns — the underused but wildly talented scoring big who’d been quiet to start Year 1 under Mike Brown.

Quiet no more.

The Knicks finally unlocked their All-Star center, and they did it from the opening tip of Friday’s 140-132 win over the Miami Heat. Towns detonated for 31 first-half points and finished with 39 points, 11 rebounds and four assists on 13-of-26 shooting and 6-of-14 shooting from 3. Eighteen of those points came in a blistering first quarter.

He went 6 of 10 from deep in the first half, tying for the second-most threes in any half this season. And with 11-of-16 shooting across those opening two quarters, Towns became the most efficient player to score more than 26 points in any half this year.

He became the sixth player to hit 30 in a half this season and tied Stephen Curry for the fourth-most points in a half, trailing only Nikola Jokic (33), Jamal Murray (32) and Luka Doncic (32).

Then Landry Shamet joined him.

When OG Anunoby headed to the locker room in the first quarter and was later ruled out with a hamstring strain, Brown turned to Shamet — his go-to plug-in starter whenever Mitchell Robinson sits.

Shamet had six points at halftime. He finished with 36 on 12-of-19 shooting and 6-of-12 shooting from 3.

“That’s why this is a process,” Brown said before tipoff. “It’s next-man-up mentality. If someone’s out, the next guy steps in and doesn’t have to do anything extraordinary — just do your job. Same goes for me. Plug the next guy in and make sure he’s comfortable with what he’s supposed to do.”

The explosion marked Towns’ second 30-point half since arriving in New York, tying Julius Randle, Nate Robinson and Jamal Crawford for third-most in Knicks history.

Quite a night for quite a big man.

Which raises the obvious question: Why did it take Brunson’s injury to unlock Towns in the first place?

The floor-spacing big entered Friday on pace for one of the least efficient seasons of his career — just 20.2 points on 42.9% from the field and 32.7% from 3 through 11 games. And while Miami didn’t have Bam Adebayo this time around — Towns had only 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting in their first matchup — this wasn’t just about who wasn’t on the floor.

The eye test said something else: the Knicks ran offense for Towns in ways they simply hadn’t all season. They hunted his matchups. They trusted him early. He rewarded that trust with quick decisions and aggressive shot-making.

The Knicks have now won six of their last seven and moved to 1-1 in the NBA Cup following their opening loss to Chicago.

“Obviously every time we step on the floor we want to try to win. The in-season tournament is fun because it’s a little bit more oomph behind it for everybody else. The importance of it for everybody else makes it important for you. It’s a game that guys circle, a tournament that guys want to win, especially if you’re competitive. So for us knowing this is an in-season tournament game, we want to try to get it done,” Brown said ahead of tipoff. “I just want to caution everybody that because it’s an in-season tournament game and not a regular season game it doesn’t mean we’re going to ‘try harder to win tonight.’ I mean, every game is important for us during this time of the year in terms of our growth first because this is a long season. But just as importantly, we want to position ourselves well for down the stretch.”

The Knicks will see Miami again on Monday — this time in South Florida — to open a three-game road trip before returning home Tuesday for a meeting with the Nets at Barclays Center.