Karl-Anthony Towns scores 44 points as Knicks hold off Heat

MIAMI – KAT has started her Night of Mischief.

Facing nemesis Jimmy Butler, the center shook off the troubles of his first three games by scoring 44 points in a 116-107 comeback win over the Heat on Wednesday.

Towns shot 17 of 25 with 13 rebounds and made two shots in the final two minutes, a three followed by a -1 over Butler. Towns celebrated that second shot by being flexible.

Butler, who tormented Towns during and immediately after their game together in Minnesota, scored just 15 points in 37 minutes.

It was the start of a four-game road trip for the Knicks (2-2) and perhaps the toughest of the upcoming games in Detroit, Houston and Atlanta.

The Knicks struggled early Wednesday, especially Jalen Brunson, and trailed by double digits early in the third quarter.

The turning point, coincidentally or not, came when Miami’s Nikola Jovic hit a three-pointer and appeared to mock Brunson’s celebration with a three-fingered punch to the face.

The Knicks jumped out to a 30-10 run, turning a 13-point deficit on Jovic’s three into a seven-point lead heading into the final period.

Towns, meanwhile, gave up 24 points in the first half, by far his best performance as a Knick.

Brunson struggled in the first half – when he scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting – before resuscitating in the second half to finish with 22 points and nine assists.

The result was encouraging, but the Knicks are figuring things out, hoping to find the rhythm and chemistry of last season’s finish.

In many ways, their clumsiness is understandable. Brunson is the only player on the roster who played more than 42 games for the Knicks last season.

Tom Thibodeau threw different replacement schemes on the wall, hoping something would stick.

He left for the Jericho Sims as a backup center two days after replacing Ariel Hukporti in the second half of a loss to the Cavaliers.

Thibodeau also dropped overmatched rookie Pacom Dadier from the rotation after the first game.

Before hitting 40 treys in Miami, the Knicks were last in 3-point attempts per game (28.3) despite adding shooters to the lineup.

“We’re in the development phase, it’s going to take some time,” Thibodeau said. “But we are withdrawing a good percentage. I want us to take good pictures. I think we’re third in offensive rating (they were fourth before Wednesday). We shoot a very high field goal percentage. We shoot a high percentage of 3. But the volume must grow, so we share this responsibility.”

Regardless of where the Knicks play on Halloween, the hope is that they will at least reach the conference finals for the first time since 2000.

Their all-in moves that sacrificed continuity looked good on Wednesday night.

Especially Towns.

“I thought they were going to be the New Knicks until they got rid of Donte (DiVincenzo),” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “I mean, they’re still the Nova Knicks, they still have three players on their team. You know they’re trying to get to the promised land, like I said, when you see moves like this, you know they don’t want to be thrown into the conference finals or the second round anymore. They’re trying to get to the finals.”