Karl-Anthony Towns dominates Wizards despite brutal outside shooting

Karl-Anthony Towns is waiting for his renowned shooting stroke to surface with his new team, but that didn’t stop the center from stuffing the box score in an impressive preseason outing.Towns, making his home Knicks debut and acknowledging pressure is raised at MSG, hit just 1 of his 7 3-point attempts in Wednesday’s demolition of the Wizards, 117-94, including an airballed 3-pointer that prompted brief groans from the crowd.But that fan angst turned into an ovation when Towns was subbed out for the final time in the fourth quarter, having finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds despite the wayward jumper.The center got to the foul line — knocking down 10 of 11 from there — and flashed his playmaking with a post-up hook shot, a backdoor pass to Jalen Brunson and an assortment of other moves with the ball.“There’s going to be tough nights when I’m not shooting well, especially at the Garden,” Towns said.

“Obviously the pressure’s different.Show mental toughness to my teammates and the fans even when things are not going well, I’ll pick it up on either on the defensive end, or just find the groove sooner rather than later in the game.

For me it’s just stay mentally tough, continue to fight through the adversity and hit some shots when we needed to garner the lead.I’m just happy that a game like this was able to teach me a little bit.”Towns, who played 28 minutes, was the Knicks’ best player in the third quarter, when the home squad secured the romp win with a 19-9 run.“He started off maybe pressing a little bit, first time here,” Tom Thibodeau said.

“I like the looks that he got.Just be patient.

At the end of the day, it’ll work itself out.And it did.

He stayed with it.He was not deterred.

I thought he went to a little more playmaking and that led to more easy baskets.… He got going to the basket.

He got to the line.He got a couple layups.

He’s a very gifted scorer.He can score a lot of different ways.

He can score a...