Karl-Anthony Towns had his strongest performance of the season in Monday's 119-102 win over the Washington Wizards, dropping 33 points with 13 rebounds and five assists over 30 minutes of action.
It's the first time Towns has scored 30-plus points in a game this year and under new head coach Mike Brown, who called the big man a "monster" that's only going to improve as the season continues.
"KAT was a monster," Brown said after the win. "He was a monster on the glass, he was really good defensively. He was a monster inside, outside. He's starting to feel and find his rhythm in what we're trying to do.
"But I'm telling you, there's still a lot of room there to grow. Not just for him, but for us to learn him, starting with me, and us to continue to learning the different parts of we're trying to do offensively. He was a monster."
Matched up against 2024 No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr, Towns went right to work in the first quarter. He scored or assisted on the Knicks' first 13 points of the game (eight points, two assists) and grabbed six rebounds (four offensive).
After the game, Towns was asked about his mindset heading into the matchup and what contributed to the noticeable aggressiveness.
"Just win the game," Towns said. "Got us chances tonight to get some good shots up so I just went and capitalized on it."
He had a number of one-on-one matchups with Sarr while the Washington defense focused on guarding Jalen Brunson and knew it was a chance to help lead the team. Towns took eight more shots against the Wizards than he had in any game this season, despite playing the least amount of minutes so far.
"I saw opportunities to get some shots up and be aggressive and I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity," Towns said. "JB requires a lot of attention obviously, so take what the defense gives us and thought tonight I saw that I had an opportunity to do something."
Towns previous season-high in scoring came in New York's second game of the season against the Boston Celtics when he had 26 points. He followed that performance up with two tough outings in losses to the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks, scoring only 15 and eight points, respectively.
The Knicks have now won back-to-back games after dropping three straight. Towns, like Brown, acknowledged the team is still a work in progress and believes they will continue to improve in a new system.
"We are all figuring it out," Towns said. "Getting better every day, understanding what our roles are and what we got to do. It's good, we got two wins in a row but we're obviously still a work in progress."
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