New York Knicks regrouped and turned the semi-final series around to win 119-81 in game 6 for the right to play in the East Conference finals on Friday, 16 May 2025. The team won the playoff spot in what was a 4-2 semi-final.
Jalen Brunson led and scored 26 points, while Dominican national basketball team member Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Their efforts were key in the game against the NBA defending champion Boston Celtics, with Al Horford, another former Dominican national basketball player, included. Boston was hurting after star player Jayson Tatum was out of play due to a recent Achilles injury.
It was a night when Dominicans watching the game were glued in to follow the two Dominican national team member players – Al Horford, playing for the Boston Celtics, and Karl Anthony Towns, playing for the New York Knicks.
For Towns, it was only his first year playing for the New York Knicks. Towns was born and raised in New Jersey. He had been traded by the Minnesota Timberwolves in October 2024, the team he had joined straight from the University of Kentucky.
As it turned out, Friday, 16 May 2025 was a night when a mesmerized Karl Anthony Towns set the pace with his attacks and aggressive play. When interviewed following the game, he said he left it all on the court to get that win. “I wanted to do my part,” he said. He highlighted that that evening in New York, “the atmosphere was electric at another level. It’s been 25 years since the team has made the East Conference finals.”
He reminded fans: “The job’s not done,” he said. The team has yet to begin the East Conference final against the Indiana Pacers.
In an after-game interview, he had special words to thank Dominicans in New York for their support.
Towns was eligible to play basketball for the Dominican Republic national team since his mother was Dominican. Towns was selected at the age of 16 to play on the Dominican Republic national basketball team and debuted in the 2012 Centrobasket. The DR team won that tournament.
He resumed playing when participating in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, where he averaged 24.4 points, fifth-most in the tournament. He dedicated his return to the team to his mother who supported his playing for her home country.
The New York Post reports on what it calls the historic rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks that dates back to the last playoff in 2000. The Bleacher Report brings up several news-making coincidences. Game 1 will be at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, 21 May 2025.
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19 May 2025