the function
the knicks built around towns. in ten games, the difference is plus 194.
27.4.
45.7.
two numbers from the same playoff run. the first belongs to jalen brunson, points per game across ten games against the hawks and the sixers. the second belongs to karl-anthony towns: 45.7%, his assist rate in the second-round sweep of philadelphia, the highest recorded by any rotation player in any series this postseason, per basketball poetry, surpassing nikola jokić’s 44.1 in denver’s first-round exit. higher than anyone still playing.
the nba’s story about the 2025-26 new york knicks runs through brunson. that story is accurate. it is also incomplete. the distance between those two things is where this team actually lives.
here is the case file.
shearer tracked the nba’s potential assist data for the series. towns recorded 30 assists in 93 minutes. when towns sits, the knicks’ assist rate drops to 53.5%, a mark that would have placed below every team in the nba during the regular season. not near the bottom. below the floor.
mike brown moved him to the high post in game 4 against atlanta. the knicks have not lost since.
brunson is averaging 27.4 points and 6.1 assists on 48.5% shooting and 40% from three. last year’s clutch player of the year. sixth in nba history in playoff scoring in a player’s first 50 games with a franchise, ahead of patrick ewing in the same window. every defense has arrived with a plan to slow him. no plan has survived a full series.
and yet brown redistributed the load. last postseason, brunson finished 32% of new york’s offensive possessions with a shot, a foul, or a turnover. in the current seven-game winning streak, that percentage has dropped by more than a point. his average ball possession time per 100 possessions is down more than two minutes from where it stood through game 3 against atlanta.
less possession, same production. the arithmetic resolves only if someone absorbed what brunson released.
towns’ per this postseason is 30.5. his career playoff average entering this year was 17.9. he is shooting 48.3% from three and 60.7% on drives. his true shooting is 74.0%. and still the possessions he does not finish matter more than the ones he does. brunson received 32 assists from towns during the regular season. in ten playoff games, that number is already 15.
“i just love that i get to get my teammates involved,” towns said.
that is the forensic record of what love looks like in this system. towns does not wait for the defense to collapse before deciding. he reads coverage from the high post, chooses the receiver before the cutter has moved, and the offense runs off the attention his presence creates. on the floor with him, the knicks are historically efficient. off the floor with him, they would not have made the playoffs last year. both of those facts belong to the same player. the narrative has been following a different one.
philadelphia provides the counter-evidence.
joel embiid played 38 games this regular season. when healthy, he is one of the most imposing centers in the league. the sixers beat boston in seven games in the first round, with embiid controlling the paint in the decisive moments. then they arrived at madison square garden for game 1 of the second round.
embiid cannot do what towns does. the body that makes him a generational interior force is also the body that has not appeared in six consecutive games since december 2023. the sixers owe him $188.3 million over the next three seasons. to get under the luxury tax line this year, they traded jared mccain to oklahoma city for a 17th pick in the upcoming draft. mccain scored 18 points off the bench for okc in a first-round playoff game.
the series finished 4-0 by an average margin of 22.5 points. in game 4, the gap reached 44. tyrese maxey averaged 17 points on 38% shooting against a knicks defense that holds opponents to 10.2 fewer points per 100 possessions with brunson on the floor. the arena that should have been hostile became a knicks rally.
“it absolutely sucks,” maxey said. “there’s only one way to put a stop to it: we have to go out there and win.”
philly has scoring. when embiid is healthy and present, they have a player capable of dominating a series in isolated bursts. what they cannot manufacture is the gravitational control towns provides: the hub that makes every other player on the floor easier to use. the sixers built around a force. the knicks built around a function. in ten games, the distinction has become record-setting.
the knicks are +194 in ten playoff games. the best differential in nba history over a ten-game playoff span, 24 points clear of the 2016-17 golden state warriors. every broadcast leads with brunson’s footwork and brunson’s fourth-quarter composure. those things are real.
the case is not against brunson. the case is against the attribution.
brown took a player who averaged 15.8 shot attempts per game in last year’s postseason and reduced him to 9.2 while the offense became historically efficient. towns did not complain. the record that stood before this run was set by a warriors team with four future hall-of-famers. the knicks broke it with an undersized guard and a center who stopped asking for his shots.
“it’s just now i have the opportunity to utilize that skill set,” towns said.
the case rested in game four against the hawks.
this week's new paid subscribers: mike, john, mark, lydia, fredrik, and antonio. they came for the assists. they'll stay for the damage. welcome to bang!