INDIANAPOLIS — The Captain was on the bench.

It was mostly Jalen Brunson’s foul trouble keeping him off the court, but there was something else to consider: The point guard was struggling and without his usual poise or shotmaking ability.

So the Knicks needed another hero with their season on the line, another clutch maestro. They needed, as it turned out in Sunday’s 106-100 comeback victory, Karl-Anthony Towns.

“When I got a chance to do what I do in the fourth quarter,” Towns said, “I knew I had to seize the opportunity.”