It did not take too lengthy for Knicks followers to witness the true potential of Karl-Anthony Cities. Cities scored 44 factors in 38 minutes in New York’s 116-107 win over the Miami Warmth.
Cities did not simply throw up factors both; he did it effectively — he related on 17-for-25 pictures from the sphere and went 4-of-5 from three. He additionally led his group as a +15 within the sport.
This huge efficiency additionally got here when the Knicks wanted him to step up, as Jalen Brunson was the one different New York participant to surpass 20 factors on the night time with 22.
After looking for his footing sporting the orange and blue, Cities allowed New York to expertise exactly what they hoped was possible after they traded for the four-time All-Star simply earlier than the beginning of the 2024-25 season.
Earlier than scoring 44, Cities solely netted 13 factors on Monday, 21 in his Madison Sq. Backyard debut and simply 12 within the season opener.
Regardless that that is Cities’ first huge offensive sport for the Knicks, he has been productive general. He is posted a double-double in three of his first 4 video games. Cities entered the night time taking pictures precisely 50% from the sphere and 66.7% from three whereas averaging 15.3 factors, 10.7 rebounds and a pair of.0 assists per sport to date.
Wednesday night time was an enormous deal for Cities, although.
The truth is, Cities’ 44-point masterpiece now ranks because the fifth-highest-scoring game of his profession. He completed solely three factors shy of the 47 he satirically scored towards the Knicks for the Minnesota Timberwolves in November of 2016.
Cities is not any stranger to huge video games within the No. 2 choice position. This was made evident final season when he set a brand new private better of 62 on Jan. 22 as Anthony Edwards’ operating mate in Minnesota.
And whereas Cities was added to function the “Robin” to Brunson’s “Batman” and assist get the Knicks over the hump and to the Japanese Convention Finals for the primary time since 2000, he confirmed that he can put the cape on himself and save the day when known as upon.
