An NBA Cup night at Madison Square Garden can quickly turn into a grand theater production. And on Friday, the Knicks, led by a phenomenal Towns, provided the audience with an unrestrained performance, one of those games where the numbers go wild, where rotations turn into a laboratory, and where a certain Landry Shamet decided it was time to rewrite his resume. Final result of the home show: 140 to 130 against the Heat, and a Garden that found its voice.
An incandescent duo to forget Brunson
Deprived of Jalen Brunson, absent for the first time this season, the Knicks needed a spark. Karl-Anthony Towns took care of lighting the first one. Softly, elegantly, almost insolently. 39 points, an offensive recital where fadeaways coexisted with drives under control, with that natural fluidity he sometimes exhibits when he feels invincible.
Karl-Anthony Towns at halftime:
31 PTS
11-16 FG
6-10 3PTKAT only had one 30-point game this season coming into tonight.pic.twitter.com/EA8Sld3c59
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) November 15, 2025
But the real story, the one that raises eyebrows and makes you rub your eyes, came from the bench. Landry Shamet, 36 points, a career rewritten in one evening. A festival of catch and shoot, off screens, in total confidence. He looked like a microwave that stubbornly refused to cool down. His three-pointer to push the gap to 125-110 was the final hammer blow, the one that chokes the last breaths of a tenacious but overmatched Heat.
LANDRY SHAMET CAREER HIGH 36 POINTS
pic.twitter.com/uYygBMmgoQ— Teg🚨 (@IQfor3) November 15, 2025
Josh Hart, hidden engine and visible heart
On nights like this, there is always a player who drives the machine from the shadows. Josh Hart chose to do it in full light, with a brilliant triple-double of cleanliness. 12 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, and constant activity. Hart is that guy who changes games without asking for the spotlight, but who ends up attracting it nonetheless. He brought superior intensity notably with a shot after a feint on Ware where he didn’t mince his words afterward.
“F*CK WRONG WITH THAT N***A”
Josh Hart after scoring 😭 pic.twitter.com/mId6gNYilT
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) November 15, 2025
Mikal Bridges added his 15 points like a metronome, Clarkson caught fire during well-placed sequences, and the Knicks delivered the kind of offensive performance that pushed roster issues to the background. Except for one: OG Anunoby, injured in the hamstrings early in the game, quickly disappeared to the locker room. Bad sign, bad news, but a down jacket that New York masked for one evening.
Miami blew hard, but not enough
On the other side, Norman Powell tried everything. 38 points and constant aggression, the kind of performance that deserves more than a loss. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added his 23 points, Wiggins and Ware did their job, but the Heat lacked defensive consistency. Too many lapses. Too many shooters left open. Too many possessions where Towns and Shamet had free rein.
Miami had indeed started the game at full speed, leading 7-0, then 35-32 after a tumultuous first quarter. But once Towns hit two consecutive bombs in the second quarter, something flipped. The Heat did attempt a comeback to 104-102, but New York tightened their game, made just enough shots, and imposed a pace that Miami never managed to slow down.
An NBA Cup game that really counts
This Knicks-Heat felt explosive, the stakes, the barely veiled revenge just three days before another duel in Miami. And this game, New York won on energy, on XXL performances, on this ability to transform the unexpected into opportunities.
Shamet exploded his ceiling. Towns dominated. Hart orchestrated. And at the end of the day, the Knicks secured a reference victory in this NBA Cup that, surprisingly, is starting to take on serious contours.
Credit: Photo by ELSA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
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