Towns explodes for 44, Knicks rally in 2nd half to beat Heat

MIAMI (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns had 44 points and 12 rebounds, Jalen Brunson scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and the New York Knicks rallied to beat the Miami Heat 116-107 on Wednesday night.

Towns had the fourth-most points for the Knicks against the Heat. Jamal Crawford scored 52 in 2007, Carmelo Anthony had 50 at Miami in 2013 and RJ Barrett 46 in 2022.

Mikal Bridges added 17 points for New York, which trailed by 13 in the third quarter before flipping the game. OG Anunoby had 11 points and Josh Hart finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

Tyler Herro had 34 points for Miami, hitting eight 3-pointers. Terry Rozier scored 16 points, Jimmy Butler had 15, Bam Adebayo 11 and Nikola Jovic 10.

Miami was again without Kevin Love. He has missed all four games this season for personal reasons.

Takeaways

Knicks: Towns was 17 of 24 from the field, 4 for 5 from 3-point range, and had 24 of his 44 points in the first half to keep New York close.

Heat: Butler and Adebayo are a combined 2 for 13 in first quarters this season. Butler is 1 for 8, Adebayo 1 for 5. They were — by far — Miami’s leaders in first-quarter field goals last season, Adebayo with 146 and Butler with 125.

Key moment

The Knicks ended the third quarter on a 30-10 run, turning a 70-57 deficit into an 87-80 lead.

Key stat

Opponents 100, Heat 54. That's the combined third-quarter score in Miami's three home games this season. Opponents are shooting 54% in those quarters, the Heat 27%.

Up next

New York goes to Detroit on Friday night for the second game of a four-game trip. Miami plays in Mexico City against Washington on Saturday night.

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