Three stars from Wednesday's NBA playoffs: Cool KAT sets up Knicks' comeback

Towns shot 9-of-16, going 8-of-15 on two-pointers. On a night where the Boston Celtics shot their way out of the game with a three-point-heavy approach, Towns got his three-point plays the old-fashioned way: scoring through contact and converting on all three of his free throws. The last and-one happened with 2:34 to go, when Towns tipped in a Josh Hart miss while getting fouled by Al Horford, getting the Knicks to within a point.

Honorable mention goes to the Knicks' other center, Mitchell Robinson, who had six points, eight rebounds and three steals on his way to a +19 performance in 22 minutes.

New York Knicks guard Josh Hart | 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks

The New York Knicks' starting lineup features two All-Stars, two All-
Defensive players and Josh Hart. Hart may have been the Knicks' most important player in Wednesday's Game 2 win, leading the team with 23 points.

The Celtics often have their big men guard Hart in order to better cover Jalen Brunson, Towns and the Knicks wings. So far in this series, Hart has made them pay. He sank three of his six three-point shots Wednesday, shot 9-of-15 overall and through two games, he's outscored Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum. Hart was so nonplussed after the win that he ordered food during his postgame news conference.

But Hart just does whatever his team needs. Wednesday it was scoring, but he also blocked two shots and grabbed two offensive rebounds during the Knicks' fourth-quarter comeback, while sitting for only five minutes. If the Celtics keep trying to hide defenders on Hart, he's proving that he can make them pay.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 34 points, 8 assists, +51

It's hard to pick just one player from the Oklahoma City Thunder after their Game 2 decimation of the Denver Nuggets, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 34 points on just 13 field-goal attempts certainly stands out. The Thunder were a whopping 51 points better than the Nuggets when SGA was on the floor, which was primarily against Denver's starters. He shot 11-of-13 and made all 11 of his free throws in a game where he didn't play at all after three quarters.

OKC dominated on both sides of the ball, and Gilgeous-Alexander kept the pressure on with his defense and his offense. Denver couldn't stop the Thunder on their way to a 149-106 victory, but SGA was the most unstoppable player on a fearsome OKC team.