KAT made sure that the New York Knicks were up to scratch and then some as they successfully sought a tie in their opening round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.

The first triple-double of Karl-Anthony Towns’ playoff career was the headliner of an emphatic New York playoff victory: the 114-98 victory in Game 4 of their opening round set in the NBA Playoffs knots the series at two games apiece and flips homecourt advantage back to the Knicks.

With 20 points, 10 rebounds, and a postseason career-best 10 assists, Towns becomes just the fourth Knicks to post a triple-double in the playoffs alongside Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Dick McGuire, and teammate Josh Hart. Towns’ edition is the first to feature 20 points since Frazier’s in the 1969 division finals against Boston.

OG Anunoby led all participants in scoring with 22 points while earning a double-double with 10 rebounds while Jalen Brunson tallied 19. With his output, Brunson moved past John Starks and the late Willis Reed on the Knicks’ all-time postseason scoring list, standing in third behind Frazier and Patrick Ewing.

Dropping the prior two games injected a fair bit of metropolitan drama into Game 4. Most of it centered around whether the Knicks would make any changes to their seemingly eternal starting lineup, as some proposed moving Mikal Bridges out in favor of Miles McBride after the former went scoreless in Game 3.

But New York doused concerns relatively early, never relinquishing the lead after a 14-5 run in the opening period erased Atlanta’s only lead of one. Up seven after the first, the Knicks established an early physical tone by scoring 20 of their 27 points in the paint while containing Atlanta’s three-point and fastbreak efforts.

The Hawks tried to counter by getting in the face of defensive specialist Jose Alvarado, but Mouhamed Gueye’s antagonizing efforts only allowed Alvarado to go to the line. If anyone on the Knicks endured a physical toll, it was probably Brunson, who temporarily went to the locker room after Dyson Daniels landed on his ankle during a tie-up early in the third. Brunson was able to finish the game despite the nagging ailment.

His teammates made sure that not much would be necessary: Towns and some assistants off the bench officially announced their takeover in the third period, allowing a well-traveled contingent of Knicks fans to break their silence.

Towns, for example staged a good bit of his masterpiece on the third period, tallying nine points, six rebounds, and five assists. Alvarado and Jordan Clarkson were a combined plus-21 over the dozen, with the former hitting a three and the latter scoring on a cut from Towns as part of an 11-0 run that permanently re-established the Knicks’ double-figure lead after Atlanta cut it to eight, the closest it would get in the second half.

While there were no changes to the starting five, the second unit left its mark with 30 points in relief, as each of the Knicks’ primary subs (McBride and Mitchell Robinson joining the aforementioned Alvarado and Clarkson) scored at least six. McBride had eight of his 11 in the fourth to tally de facto daggers as the metropolitan volume raised at State Farm Arena.

Atlanta missed out on an opportunity to not only sweep its opening couple of playoff home games but also take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Newly-minted New York nemesis CJ McCollum led the way with 17 points in defeat but hit only 1-of-5 in the second half.

With the series tied, Game 5 will move back to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock).