The New York Knicks may have stolen Game 3 from right under the Indiana Pacers' collective nose, but that was just the start of what they hope is going to be a comeback trail. Karl-Anthony Towns put the Knicks on his back in the fourth quarter of Game 3, and with the Knicks fighting another uphill climb in the second half of Game 4, Towns is once again doing his best to lift his team and prevent them from going down to a near-insurmountable deficit in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals.

With the Knicks down by double digits near the start of the third quarter, they needed a huge jolt from anyone to prevent the Pacers from running away with the game. That's exactly what they got from Towns, who knifed his way into the lane after a hard closeout from Pascal Siakam and threw down a monster Statue of Liberty jam to pull the Knicks within 10.

Towns has had his fair share of struggles in this series against the Pacers, but plays like this show just how important he is to the Knicks and their chances of going all the way. He is a three-level scoring threat whom the Pacers have to defend all over the court, and he does so much in opening up the floor for the Knicks that his impact goes beyond the box score.

It's not too often that someone of Towns' physical stature (he's listed at 7'0″, 248 lbs.) can take his guy off the dribble on a consistent basis, but this is what makes the Knicks star special. And the hope is that his huge dunk earlier in the third quarter would give the Knicks some life as they look to avoid going down 3-1 in the series to the Pacers.

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Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks look to channel Game 3 magic vs. Pacers

Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts during 4th
© Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The Knicks fell down by as many as 20 points in the first half of Game 3 and even trailed by 10 points heading into the fourth. But then Towns took it upon himself to carry his team, scoring 20 points in the final frame to lead the Knicks' comeback even with Jalen Brunson rooted to the bench due to foul trouble.

In Game 4, the Knicks are entering the fourth quarter down by 11 points. They will have to channel the same magic that they had in Game 3 to avoid going down 3-1, which is usually a death sentence in the NBA playoffs. (Only 13 teams out of 296 came back from such a deficit — 4.3 percent.)