How It Happened: Against the league’s best first half team, the Knicks came out with a sense of purpose by building a nine-point lead after the first 24 minutes. Despite Karl-Anthony Towns’ career first half performance (26 points) and Carmelo Anthony attempting five shots, New York shot 53.3 percent from the floor to establish the early advantage. Kristaps Porzingis was the catalyst on the offensive side of the floor with 20 points in the first half. The second quarter was momentum changing for the road squad as the Knicks piled up 30 points and outscored Minnesota by 12 in the period. The fourth quarter is where the drama unfolded. New York blasted the Wolves to start the final stanza and the lead grew to 17 points with 7:42 remaining in the game. Minnesota answered on a 15-2 run and tied the game at 102-102 when Zach LaVine nailed a 3-pointer. Porzingis crashed the glass and finished a putback dunk to hand the Knicks a 104-102 advantage before Towns sunk two free throws to tie the game once again. With 2.3 seconds on the clock, Anthony delivered in the clutch on a midrange jumper from the elbow over Andrew Wiggins. At this point, New York led by two points and Anthony got his hand on the inbounds pass to create the turnover as the clock dripped to zero. The Knicks escaped Minnesota with the 106-104 victory to improve to 9-9 on the season.
Knick of the Night: Anthony was the late game hero but Porzingis finished with a team-high 29 points in the victory. In the friendly rivalry, Porzingis poured in 29 on 11-of-20 shooting from the floor, eight boards, and four assists. Towns recorded a career-high 47 points and 18 rebounds.
Notables: Mindaugas Kuzminskas hit some big shots from downtown late in the contest. The rookie scored 14 points off the pine. Brandon Jennings played point guard in the final minutes and finished with 12 points and seven assists.
News and Notes: Joakim Noah was unable to suit up for Wednesday’s game due to a sprained left ankle. Courtney Lee suffered a sprained ankle in the first half and did not return to action. X-rays were negative on Lee’s ankle.
Statistically Speaking: New York hit 40.6 percent from the 3-point line on 32 attempts. The Knicks bench outscored Minnesota 43-5.
Next Up: The Knicks jumped on a plane directly after the game tonight and headed back to New York. On Friday, both these teams will square off again in the season series finale at Madison Square Garden.