Knicks can dream big because of Karl-Anthony Towns

There are a lot of things that go into the promise of what Karl-Anthony Towns can be for the Knicks. Some of them are obvious. Some of them are self-evident.

You start with the size: Every inch of 7 feet, every ounce of 248 pounds. There is the shooting: He knocked down the first two 3s he looked at Tuesday night in Philadelphia. There is his nose for the ball: 12.3 rebounds per game coming in, 13 more in the Knicks’ 111-99 win over the 76ers at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center.

But then you see a play like the one Towns made with 3 minutes and 3 seconds to go in the game. The Knicks had beaten their bugaboo of the young season, playing near-perfect ball already across the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter, seized a 99-86 lead. Josh Hart fed him in the low post. There were still 11 seconds left on the shot clock.

Andre Drummond was behind Towns. Kyle Lowry came down to double him. Towns had the ball in his right hand. Tom Thibodeau always says — literally, always — “the game will tell you what to do.” It does. And it helps to have some pretty good instincts and some awfully high basketball IQ, too.