On a night where Jalen Brunson stole headlines by scoring his 10,000th career point in the third quarter of a 1277-97 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Brunson was quick to gloss over his own accomplishment and praise his teammate Karl-Anthony Towns. 

Towns was the first person to ask Brunson about his milestone, though Brunson went past it quickly with a simple, "Great. Next question," (via SNY Knicks). What Brunson really wanted to talk about was the massive rebounding game that Towns had. 

For the second-straight game and the third time this season Towns had at least 20 rebounds, positing 14 points and 20 rebounds in 29 minutes played against the Trail Blazers.

"What he's been doing these past couple games has been great," Brunson said of Towns. "We need that from him. That's what he brings to the table. Offensively, the ball's not going in as much as it should be and he finds a way to impact the game and I think that's really important for us."

January has been a down month scoring-wise for Towns. He's averaging 15.9 points per game in January, his lowest average out of any month so far this season, while shooting 42.3% from the field, his second-lowest percentage of any month this season. 

That's what makes his explosion of rebounding so crucial. While shooting's been down, his boards have been up and he's averaging 12.1 rebounds per game, his second-highest total of any month this season. 

Towns accounted for over a third of the New York Knicks' rebounds in their win over the Trail Blazers, including the majority of their defensive rebounds. 

When his offense isn't clicking the way that it has been in the past, but the rest of the Knicks are scoring at such a high rate, Towns' ability to covert defensive rebounds into scoring opportunities on the other end for the Knicks provides ideal team synergy that allows for the peak of New York's scoring potential to be realized. 

New York's five-game winning streak is a major shift for them compared to the dismal stretch of losses they experienced coming off of their NBA Cup victory. 

Their recent success has improved their record to 30-18 and placed them firmly in second place in the Western Conference behind only the Detroit Pistons. 

They'll need to keep this effort up to keep them in a favorable position as playoffs approach and while the Knicks' scoring has been impressive as of late, Towns' rebounding dominance will be just as important.