Knicks need more aggressive, dominant Karl-Anthony Towns for Game 3

INDIANAPOLIS

Karl-Anthony Towns was supposed to be the missing piece, that perfect second All-Star who could team up with Jalen Brunson and make the Knicks a championship contender. His presence was so coveted, so needed, that the Knicks were willing to reconfigure their roster to bring him to New York in a blockbuster trade at the start of training camp.

Yet here the Knicks were in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years, and Towns was watching from the bench during a nearly seven-minute stretch in the fourth quarter of Game 2 on Friday night against the Indiana Pacers.

Towns finally did check back in for the final 2 1⁄2 minutes with the Knicks down by nine. They got within one, but the Pacers’ 114-109 victory put the Knicks in a 2-0 hole heading into Game 3 in Indianapolis.

So why was the Knicks’ five-time All-Star center not on the floor in crunch time? Why did Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau think it was a good idea to have him sitting in favor of backup center Mitchell Robinson?

“Just, we got in a hole, and then the group that was in there gave us a chance,” Thibodeau said. “So we were just riding [that group]. We’re searching for a win.”

Let that sink in. Less than three hours after being named to the All-NBA third team, Towns was sitting on the bench because his coach thought the team had a better chance to win without him.

It doesn’t matter that the Knicks were trailing by nine when Towns went to the bench and still trailing by nine when he returned. The way Indiana’s offense had been attacking Towns, Thibodeau was left with a difficult choice.

Does he go with the starting center who can’t defend? Or does he stay with Robinson, who can’t score, especially from the foul line?

Indiana’s fast-paced style of play is a nightmare for a player like Towns because he’s not quick, nor does he do much to keep opponents from attacking the rim despite his size advantage. That is why Thibodeau opted to keep Robinson on the floor in the fourth quarter this time despite his offensive shortcomings.

Though Towns had 20 points and seven rebounds in 27:41, the Knicks were outscored by 20 points when he was on the floor. Robinson (six points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots) was a plus-6 in a postseason-high 29:20 minutes and got a standing ovation at one point when he came off the floor.

Yes, that statistic can be a bit misleading. Towns often was on the floor with the Knicks’ starters, who are a minus-29 through two games that were lost by a total of eight points. Still, Towns is not producing at the level fans expect from a player of his pedigree, and it’s hurting his team.

There’s some thought that Thibodeau needs to shake up the starting lineup. Perhaps he should start Robinson, Brunson, Deuce McBride, OG Anunoby and either Mikal Bridges or Josh Hart to prevent Indiana from getting off to a strong start in Game 3.

At the same time, does the coach really want to mess with a starting lineup that produced 51 wins and won over a whole new generation of Knicks fans by upsetting the defending champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals?

Probably not. The easiest solution would be for Towns to just pick up his effort on defense and do something to make Indiana stop picking on him.

Effort is a big reason Robinson is so beloved by Knicks fans. So much of what he does seems to boil down to that. Even when he is missing badly at the free-throw line — even when the ball falls well short of the front of the rim — the look on his face says he’s trying hard.

There are times when you just can’t say the same about Towns. It’s those times when he doesn’t get back on defense or doesn’t use his giant body, which should be one of the Knicks’ biggest advantages, to make things rough on Indiana’s smaller players.

“We need him to be aggressive offensively,” Hart said of Towns. “We need him to be locked in and communicate defensively. That’s all we need from him. We need him to communicate at a high level.

“Offensively, be aggressive, get to his spots, get deep post position and use his talent offensively. Defensively, be locked in, communicate at a high level and be an anchor for us.”

In other words, with their season on the precipice of ending, be the dominating player the Knicks wanted him to be when they brought him here.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.