Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges made their home debuts for the New York Knicks on Friday, giving the fans at Madison Square Garden what they hope is a preview of even better nights to come in a 123–98 win over the Indiana Pacers.
Towns scored 21 points, shooting 5-for-11 from the floor, 2-for-2 on 3-pointers and 9-for-10 on free throws. He added 15 rebounds and two blocks in a tough matchup against Pacers center Myles Turner. Bridges also tallied 21 points, going 2-for-3 from 3, with five assists. With the Knicks’ big lead, neither player saw much time in the fourth quarter.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 26 points, reminding fans who the real star of the team is. He also notched five rebounds and five assists, easily winning his matchup versus Tyrese Haliburton, who surprisingly went scoreless for the Pacers on 0-for-8 shooting (0-for-7 on 3s). Josh Hart added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Indiana was led by Bennedict Mathurin‘s 20 points, followed by 13 points and seven rebounds from Turner. Pascal Siakam and Jarace Walker each added 12 points for the Pacers (1–1).
Towns had a lackluster game in the Knicks’ opener on Tuesday versus the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics. He scored 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting (1-for-2 on 3s) with seven rebounds in a 132–109 loss. But Towns matched that point total in the first half against Indiana, hitting both of his 3-pointers and adding two blocks.
Bridges didn’t fare much better against Boston, especially with poor shooting on 3-pointers. He missed his first four shots behind the arc and went 2-for-7 from long range. He finished with 16 points. However, he bounced back brilliantly against Indiana.
The Knicks landed Towns in a blockbuster trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves nearly a month ago, coming to New York in exchange for for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick. Towns filled a big hole in the middle with Mitchell Robinson out until at least December with an ankle injury and Isaiah Hartenstein signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency.
Prior to getting Towns, Bridges was the Knicks’ big offseason acquisition in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets for Bojan Bogdanović, four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-rounder, an unprotected pick swap and a second-round selection.
New York (1–1) is off until Monday, when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers (2–0). The Pacers have a Sunday matinee matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers (0–2).