Win-win: Towns, Randle help new teams reach NBA conference finals

NEW YORK, United States — Karl-Anthony Towns is back in the NBA conference finals, this time in the East, after helping the New York Knicks to finally get over the hump.

Towns scored 11 of his 21 points in the opening quarter, which set the tone for the Knicks’ 119-81 demolition of the dethroned champions Boston Celtics on Friday (Saturday Manila time) to advance.

Towns arrived in New York before the season from Minnesota in a blockbuster swap for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo — a trade that was initially scored by pundits in favor of the Knicks.

But as it turned out, it’s a win-win for both teams as Randle also helped the Timberwolves reach the Western Conference Finals for the second time in a row, their first back-to-back appearance in franchise history.

They finished off the Golden State Warriors in five games earlier this week.

The Timberwolves drew a monster series from Randle, who exorcised his playoff demons by averaging 25.2 points on 53.3% shooting, 7.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds.

"Julius Randle was incredible," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after their Game 5 loss on Wednesday (Thursday Manila time). "What a series. He's always been a really good player in this league, but I think he has taken a leap.

“I remember playing here early in the season and it looked like a tough fit. They didn't have the spacing. They missed (Karl-Anthony) Towns. And you fast-forward to now, he's 13 for 18 [Wednesday night], he was just incredible the whole series. We couldn't stop him."

Towns was as instrumental in the Knicks’ improbable march to the Eastern Conference Finals, vanquishing the heavy favorite Celtics. He had a double-double in five of the six games against Boston.

The Knicks came back from 20-point deficits in Games 1 and 2 and a 14-point deficit in Game 4 before finally playing their best game of the series in the clincher with the wire-to-wire victory.

“This team has tremendous belief in each other, and we believe that any time we step on the court, we have a chance to win,” Towns said.

After ending the one-year reign of the Celtics, the Knicks jumped to the third-best odds of succeeding them as champions.

The Knicks are +600 at Bovada, one of the top-rated sportsbooks with online slots.

On the other hand, the Timberwolves have better championship odds at +400 behind the heavy favorites Oklahoma City Thunder (+120), who will host the Denver Nuggets (+850) in a win-or-go-home Game 7 in their Western Conference semifinal series.

The Indiana Pacers, the Knicks’ opponent in the conference finals, have the fourth-best championship odds at +750.

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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for US-based publication Heavy.com.

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