Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby each score 27 as Knicks beat Raptors to halt three-game skid

While the Knicks may be judged by measuring sticks, wondering if they are as good as they looked in the recent nine-game winning streak or what went wrong on the three-game losing streak that they carried into Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.

One thing was clear by the time the clock ticked down to the final buzzer Wednesday — the Knicks look a lot better when Karl-Anthony Towns is in uniform.

After a lifeless performance Monday dragged by shooting woes while he rested his sort right knee, Towns was back in the lineup Wednesday and delivering 27 points and 14 rebounds and OG Anunoby added 27 points against his former team, to lead the Knicks past the Toronto Raptors, 112-98.

With the win the Knicks snapped their season-worst three-game losing streak and set themselves up for Friday night’s rematch with Oklahoma City — the team that started the Knicks on the three-game slide.

All of the Knicks problems weren’t solved and they didn’t need to be against the Raptors, a team that has finally gotten all of its pieces back but remains near the bottom of the standings at 8-29. Mikal Bridges shot just 4-for-18 (2-for-11 from three). Jalen Brunson was just 1-for-4 from beyond the arc and had 13 points.

But Towns set the tone, hitting all five of his field goal attempts in the first half and finishing 9-for-14 — including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Anunoby shot 8-for-13, shaking off recent shooting woes. Josh Hart added 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, making their return to New York for a second time, led Toronto with 16 and 22 points respectively.

With 5:21 left, the Knicks up 24 and Anunoby at the line fans started a chant of, “Tyler Kolek,” but Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau ignored that, having just reinserted Brunson into the game. Thibodeau finally emptied the bench with 2:27 to play with the Knicks leading by as many as 26 in the fourth quarter.

You will never get Brunson to admit to an excuse, injury or otherwise, to explain away a loss or his own struggles. And admittedly, he doesn’t lose or struggle often.

But as he has worked his way through a problematic right calf it has coincided with an uncharacteristic shooting slump. As he readied to face the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night, hoping to break the Knicks three-game losing streak, he was searching for answers.

In his last three games since returning from a game missed with what the Knicks called right calf tightness Brunson has shot just 1-for-10 from three-point range. Add in the game he was listed as questionable but played before the one he sat out ahead of sitting the game and it is 2-for-16 over a four-game span. In his last eight games, he is 5-for-39 from three, shooting 21% overall and 12.8% from three.

“Ebbs and flows to it,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I think there’s going to be stretches where it’s the other way too. Just take good shots, shoot them well. Some have gone in and out on him. That’s part of the game.”

Brunson attempted just one three-pointer in Monday’s loss to Orlando — the first time all season he has attempted that few.

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“Yeah and I want him to read the game,” Thibodeau said. “I don’t want him to just jack threes just to jack threes. If he’s being double teamed or they are face-guarding him I want him to make the right play and I think he’s done that.”