MIAMI – Karl-Anthony Towns had 44 points and 13 rebounds, Jalen Brunson scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and the New York Knicks battled past the Miami Heat 116-107 on Wednesday night.

Towns had the fourth-most points for the Knicks against the Heat. Jamal Crawford scored 52 points in 2007, Carmelo Anthony scored 50 points in Miami in 2013 and RJ Barrett scored 46 points in 2022.

Mikal Bridges scored 17 points for New York, which trailed by 13 in the third quarter before the game turned around. OG Anunoby had 11 points and Josh Hart finished the game with 10 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

Tyler Herro had 34 points for Miami and made eight 3-pointers. Terry Rozier scored 16 points, Jimmy Butler 15, Bam Adebayo 11 and Nikola Jovic 10.

Miami was again without Kevin Love. He missed all four games this season for personal reasons.

Take away

Yes

Knicks: Towns was 17 of 25 from the field, 4 of 5 from 3-point range and had 24 of his 44 points in the first half to keep New York close.

Heat: Butler and Adebayo are a combined 2 for 13 in the first quarters this season. Butler is 1 for 8, Adebayo is 1 for 5. They were by far Miami’s all-time leader in first quarter field goals last season, Adebayo with 146 and Butler with 125.

Key moment

The Knicks ended the third quarter with a 30-10 run and turned a 70-57 deficit into an 87-80 lead.

Key statistics

Opponent 100, Heat 54. That’s the total points scored in the third quarter of Miami’s three home games this season. Opponents are shooting 54% in these quarters, while the Heat are shooting 27%.

Next

New York travels to Detroit on Friday night for the second game of a four-game trip. Miami plays Washington on Saturday evening in Mexico City.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba