Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges bounce back, and so do Knicks with win over Pacers
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns dunks as Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner and guard Bennedict Mathurin look on in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In another basketball universe, the Knicks’ home opener against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night would have been billed as a simple revenge game.
If the Knicks hadn’t been embarrassed in their season opener in Boston after putting together a starting lineup designed to compete with the very best in the game, all of the talk Friday would have been about the Knicks wanting to get back at the Pacers for knocking them out of the playoffs last season.
Yet so much has happened since the Pacers beat the overachieving, injury-hobbled Knicks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals that the focus going into Friday’s game really wasn’t about payback. In fact, it wasn’t about looking back at all. It was about looking forward and making a statement that this team with its shiny new additions — Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges — is much better than the one destroyed in Boston.
No, the Indiana Pacers are not the Boston Celtics. But it’s hard not to be encouraged by what the Knicks showed in their 123-98 win Friday.
Not only did they bounce back from their 132-109 loss to beat a playoff-caliber club, but they showed the sort of team effort and chemistry they are going to need to be a legitimate contender.
“The character of our team is very strong,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “No one wants to not do well, but you have to do it together. When you do it together, good things will come from that. I love the way our guys responded.”
It was a group response that can only help a team grow. The Knicks led by as many as 33 points. All five starters were in double figures, with Jalen Brunson leading the way with 26 points, five assists and five rebounds and three other starters scoring at least 20.
But what was most encouraging was the bounce-back performance of Towns and Bridges.
Bridges, who was obtained in a trade with the Nets, got a large cheer from the crowd when he was pulled from Friday night’s game. He was a significant factor on both sides of the floor.
Bridges broke out of the shooting slump he showed in the preseason and early against Boston by shooting 8-for-12 and scoring 21 points. Dating to halftime of the Celtics loss, he has made 15 of his last 20 shots.
Bridges also played a significant role in holding Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton scoreless and to 0-for-8 shooting.
Towns also answered the call after having a mediocre game in Boston. The 7-foot center was the physical inside presence the Knicks had been banking on when they traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota for him just a month ago. He finished the game with 15 rebounds and scored 21 points, going 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.
“As a team, we showed up today,” Brunson said. “It’s plain and simple. Boston came out with an energy that we didn’t match, and it was unacceptable. Today we just knew we had to pick it up and turn the page and do better. I feel like we did it tonight. And I feel it’s something we can grow on.”
Talent-wise, the Knicks’ starting lineup is superior to the one that gutted its way through injuries and was a victory away from advancing to the conference finals last season. Bridges is a scorer who was a first-team all-defensive player last season. Towns is a four-time All-Star who was brought in to give the Knicks a chance to beat Boston and Kristaps Porzingis.
Yet anyone who managed to watch even a fraction of the Knicks’ season-opening debacle against the Celtics was concerned about the chemistry of this new team. The departed Randle and DiVincenzo bought into the leave-it-all-on-the-floor mentality that Thibodeau and Brunson established in New York.
Friday’s bounce-back win was desperately needed. It not only showed fans what is possible, it showed the Knicks themselves.
The NBA scheduling gods didn’t do them any favors. The Knicks’ first four games this season are against 2024 playoff teams as they follow Friday night’s contest with a game at home Monday against Cleveland and at Miami on Wednesday.
Brunson clearly was thrilled not to be going up against Cleveland with an 0-2 record.
“I learned tonight we know how to respond,” he said. “We have to make this the norm and we have to continue to grow.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.