Karl-Anthony Towns leads Knicks offensive explosion past Wizards
Karl-Anthony Towns posted a 26-point, 16-rebound double-double and seven Knicks scored in double-figures as New York rolled to its sixth straight win with a 145-113 rout of sputtering Washington on Sunday.
The Knicks (47-25) rebounded from an anemic offensive effort their last time out in a 93-92 win on Friday over Brooklyn, pouncing on the sputtering Wizards early en route to 68 first-half points and their second-highest scoring game of the season.
Washington (16-55) was already short-handed due to a spat of injuries, and was also down starting forward Justin Champagnie on Sunday for his involvement in an altercation in the Wizards' loss to Oklahoma City.
Still, the visitors briefly forced a tie early in the second quarter when Sharife Cooper -- playing on a two-way contract -- connected on a 3-pointer. The 38-38 stalemate was short-lived, with New York going on a 16-2 run.
The spurt gave the Knicks a lead that remained at a double-digit-point margin most of the rest of the way, dooming Washington to its 16th consecutive loss. The skid matches the franchise record, and this marks the fourth time in the last three seasons Wizards teams have dropped 16 in a row, after previously doing so in 2009-10.
New York spread its scoring evenly among a corps of Towns, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.
The Knicks' trio of Villanova products -- Brunson, Hart and Bridges -- finished with 23, 16 and 14 points. Hart added six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
Towns, meanwhile, went into halftime already having 15 points and 10 rebounds to ensure his 50th double-double of the season and fourth in a row.
Mitchell Robinson added his own double-double for the Knicks, going for 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Mohamed Diawara added another 12 points and Tyler Kolek went 3 of 3 from 3-point distance on the way to 11 points.
Jaden Hardy came off the Washington bench to lead the Wizards with a season-high 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range. Anthony Gill recorded 18 points in reserve duty.