Karl-Anthony Towns continued his season-opening streak of double-doubles Tuesday night and the host New York Knicks rode dominant second- and fourth-quarter runs to a 117-85 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The defending NBA champion Knicks outscored the Bucks 32-13 in both the second and fourth quarters on their way to winning for the sixth time in seven games following an 0-3 start.
Towns had 21 points and 16 rebounds. He has recorded a double-double in 14 straight regular-season games dating back to April 1.
Jalen Brunson scored 23 points while OG Anunoby added 19 points for the Knicks. Tyler Kolek added 12 points off the bench while starter Landry Shamet had 10 points. Reserve Andre Drummond collected 14 rebounds.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 16 points for the Bucks, who have lost seven straight to fall to 1-10 for the first time since the 1993-94 season. Ryan Rollins scored 14 points while Kasparas Jakucionis (11 points) and Nate Ament (10 points) got into double figures off the bench.
Eight of the Bucks’ 10 losses have been by at least 10 points.
The Bucks took a quintet of small leads in the first quarter before Shamet’s 3-pointer with 3:31 left gave the Knicks the lead for good at 18-16 and sparked a quarter-ending 11-5 run for New York, which extended its lead to 26-21.
With 8:43 left in the first half, Kolek made a 3-pointer to put the Knicks ahead by double digits for good at 34-23. Anunoby closed out the half with a 3-pointer to give New York a 58-34 lead.
The Bucks outscored the Knicks 38-27 in the third and pulled within 11 at 85-74 when Jaquez fed Kel’el Ware for an alley-oop to open the fourth. But Towns and Kolek combined to score the first 14 points of a 20-2 run for New York, which led by at least 23 the rest of the way.
Reserves Pacome Dadiet and Dalton Knecht combined to end the game with eight unanswered points to give the Knicks their biggest lead of the night.
