Bucks vs. Knicks: Towns’ 10th Straight Double-Double Fuels 117-85 Rout
Karl-Anthony Towns is one double-double from tying Willis Reed, and the post-Giannis Bucks fell to 1-10, their worst start since 1993-94.
Update (Nov. 12, 2:30 p.m. ET): Towns had 21 points and 11 rebounds against Cleveland on Wednesday, his 11th straight double-double to open the season, which ties Willis Reed. The Knicks still lost 115-107 as James Harden scored a season-high 32.
Tuesday’s Bucks vs. Knicks game was over by halftime, and the only real suspense left was Karl-Anthony Towns’ streak. He got there. Towns put up 21 points and a season-high 16 rebounds in New York’s 117-85 rout at Madison Square Garden, his 10th straight double-double to open the season.
The defending champions have now won four in a row and six of seven after an 0-3 start. Milwaukee, in its first season after trading Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 30 for Miami the same night, fell to 1-10.
🏀 TUESDAY’S FINAL SCORES 🏀
Karl-Anthony Towns becomes just the 3rd player in @nyknicks history to open a season with 10 straight double-doubles, joining Walt Bellamy (13 in 1965-66) and Willis Reed (11 in 1970-71), as New York wins their 4th straight!
Jalen Brunson: 23 PTS, 4… pic.twitter.com/djx7ZOv8Xd
— NBA (@NBA) November 11, 2026
Towns is one away from Willis Reed
The streak puts Towns in rare Knicks company. He’s just the third player in franchise history to start a season with 10 straight double-doubles, the NBA noted, joining Walt Bellamy (13 in 1965-66) and Willis Reed (11 in 1970-71).
One more tonight against Cleveland ties Reed. Three more would match Bellamy. Counting the end of last season, Towns has a double-double in 14 straight regular-season games going back to April 1, Field Level Media reported.
He’s doing it on the glass. Towns leads the Eastern Conference at 13.8 rebounds per game, per the New York Post, and says this year has felt different in Mike Brown’s system. He called it “just another year with a better understanding of what Mike wants.”
Tuesday wasn’t his cleanest shooting night. He went 5 for 14 from the field and 2 for 9 from three, CBS Sports noted, but made up for it with 9 of 14 at the line, three assists, two steals and a block in 27 minutes.
How the Knicks blew it open
New York won this game in two quarters. The Knicks outscored Milwaukee 32-13 in the second and 32-13 again in the fourth. OG Anunoby closed the half with a 3-pointer that made it 58-34.
The Bucks did push back. They won the third quarter 38-27 and got within 85-74 when Jaime Jaquez Jr. found Kel’el Ware for an alley-oop to open the fourth. Then Towns and Tyler Kolek scored the first 14 points of a 20-2 run, and New York led by at least 23 the rest of the way.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 23 points. Anunoby added 19, Kolek had 12 off the bench, Landry Shamet scored 10 and Andre Drummond grabbed 14 rebounds in reserve minutes.
The Bucks after Giannis: 1-10
This is what Milwaukee’s reset looks like in November. The Bucks traded Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami in July for Tyler Herro, Ware, Jaquez, Kasparas Jakucionis, the No. 13 pick that became Nate Ament and more picks, NBA.com reported.
The young pieces are getting minutes. Jaquez led Milwaukee with 16, Ryan Rollins scored 14, and Jakucionis (11) and Ament (10) scored in double figures off the bench. The results haven’t followed. The Bucks have lost seven straight, eight of their 10 losses have come by double digits, and their 1-10 record is the franchise’s worst start since 1993-94.
That’s not a crisis for a team that’s openly rebuilding. It does mean first-year coach Taylor Jenkins, who interviewed for the Knicks job a year ago, is in for a long winter.
Knicks vs. Cavaliers tonight
The Knicks host Cleveland on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, a rematch of last spring’s Eastern Conference finals. New York already beat the Cavs in Cleveland on Saturday. A win would make it five straight and keep pace in an East where Boston just took over first place, as Paul George’s 36-point night in Philadelphia showed.
For Towns, a former Kentucky star who watched his old school lose to Kansas in Tuesday’s Champions Classic, the number to watch is 11.
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Sources: NBA, Field Level Media, New York Post, CBS Sports, NBA.com, American TV
