Midway through the third quarter on Monday, Jalen Brunson brought the ball up the floor, dribbling toward a Karl-Anthony Towns screen. Once Brunson drew the attention of two Raptors defenders, he knew exactly what to do.
With Ochai Agbaji and Jakob Poeltl approaching, Brunson took another dribble and threw a pass to a cutting Towns, who then made an easy layup. It was far from Towns’ most important shot of the game — his three-pointer with six seconds left in the fourth sealed the Knicks’ dramatic 113-108 win in Toronto — but that layup was yet another easy basket for the NBA’s best pick-and-roll duo.
The Knicks entered Monday generating a league-high 1.23 points per play on the Brunson-Towns pick-and-roll, according to Sportradar’s player tracking data. The metric measures Towns screens for Brunson that lead directly to a scoring chance for either himself, Brunson, or another teammate.
“This is why they did it,” an opposing scout said of the Towns trade. “If it works, the [Towns-Brunson pick-and-roll] will be tough for everyone.”
Yes, this is one of the reasons why the Knicks sent Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a protected 2025 first-round pick to the Timberwolves for Towns in late September. New York knew Towns would open things up on offense, allowing them to play five-out. They also knew they were acquiring one of the best pick-and-roll big men in the NBA.
Towns’ shooting alone makes him a huge threat. By one Sportradar metric, he’s the league’s third-best shooting big man over the past 15 years, trailing only legend Dirk Nowitzki and reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. He owns the highest career three-point percentage of players 6-11 or taller, per Sportradar (minimum 1,000 attempts).
He’s also shot a league-high 50 percent on three-point attempts off of pick-and-pops (minimum 50 attempts). This season, Towns sits at 43 percent on 21 of those attempts.
Towns’ screening was key for the TImberwolves’ offense last season, and it’s been a big weapon for the Knicks now.
Entering play Monday, the Knicks were scoring 1.20 points per pick on Towns screens that lead directly to a scoring chance for himself, the ball handler, or a teammate. That’s the highest scoring average in the NBA among screeners with at least 100 direct picks set, according to Sportradar.
This is exactly what the Knicks were hoping for when they traded for Towns. Obviously, their biggest questions so far this season are on the defensive end, and the defense will determine whether or not they’re playing in June. But there aren’t many questions about Towns’ pick-and-roll chemistry with Brunson.
