Barbara Barker: Knicks must find a way to keep Karl-Anthony Towns at this level
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns puts up a shot defended by Rockets forward Kevin Durant in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
There. Mike Brown finally said it.
Two-thirds of the way through the season, the Knicks’ coach fully articulated what everyone watching his team already knew. Karl-Anthony Towns may be an All-Star, but he is this team’s second most important All-Star.
When it comes to shots and opportunities in this offense, Jalen Brunson is going to get the most and Towns will come in somewhere behind him. That’s just the way it’s going to be.
Brown made that clear before Saturday night’s game against Houston when he was asked how he assessed his center’s up-and-down play.
“I look at KAT and he’s probably right where he should be, right?” Brown said. “Maybe he should be the leading scorer? I don’t know, but for sure the second-leading scorer. He’s that. He gets the second-most field-goal attempts, right? Behind Jalen . . . The No. 1 guy is going to get the most stuff because he’s the No. 1 guy. The No. 2 guy is going to get the second-most stuff because he’s the No. 2 guy.”
On Saturday night, that No. 2 guy led the Knicks to a stunning 108-106 comeback victory in a game in which they trailed by 18 points early in the fourth quarter.
Towns, who has been under the microscope all season, issued a challenge to his teammates to get stops when they were down by 16 at the start of the final quarter. He then set the tone by forcing All-Star center Alperen Sengun to miss a 10-footer on the first possession.
“I challenged them and I wanted to do my part as well,” said Towns, not exactly known for his defensive prowess. “I wanted to set the tone for the team and the intensity level we needed to play with for 12 minutes.”
Towns finished with 25 points, including seven in the final period. Brunson, who had two points at halftime, hit the go-ahead basket with 29.5 seconds left. He and OG Anunoby each had 20 points.
It was an important win both for the Knicks and Towns, who at times this season has struggled in Brown’s offense.
Towns also was the No. 2 guy last season under Tom Thibodeau, but the difference wasn’t so pronounced or clearly articulated.
Entering Saturday, Towns had attempted 728 field goals in Brown’s offense. At the same point last season? He had attempted 880. That’s an average of three fewer shots a game than he averaged last season.
Brunson entered Saturday having attempted 1,044 shots in the 51 games he has played this season — basically two more a game than the 940 he attempted through 51 games last season.
All this goes a long way toward explaining why Towns doesn’t seem all that happy in Brown’s offense.
That unhappiness has reared its ugly head again and again, most recently in the Knicks’ ugly loss to the Pistons on Thursday. Against a team missing both of its centers, Towns scored two points and took three shots in the first half. The Knicks fell behind by 10 at the half and lost to Detroit for the third time in three games.
If the Knicks really think they can be the last team standing in the Eastern Conference, they are going to have to find a way to get Towns more involved.
So who is to blame for the Towns problem? And what can be done to address it?
There are at least three suspects, and you can bet at least one of them will take the fall if the Knicks don’t fix this and bow out early in the playoffs.
Let’s start with Towns . . .
He may not like it, but he needs to accept his place in the hierarchy and make the most out of the opportunities he has. While a big part of the blame for that has to be on Brown, Towns is an elite player who has played for multiple coaches. He is capable of finding ways to be aggressive and ways of using his strength and shooting skills to make things happen.
Instead, after listening to Towns’ comments after the loss to the Pistons, one gets the feeling that he has found it easier to pout about an offense he doesn’t like rather than aggressively finding ways to operate in it.
Which brings us to Brown . . .
Brown has been saying all season that Towns’ role in his offense clearly had the highest learning curve. At this point, it’s clear that the curve is too steep.
Great coaches adapt their style to the players they have and the teams they are playing. Brown did say before Saturday’s game that they have made modifications in the offense to accommodate Towns.
Still, the Knicks had a golden opportunity to use Towns to exploit a huge mismatch Thursday with Pistons centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart serving suspensions. Instead, they ran a first-half offense in which Towns took three shots and scored two points.
Don’t forget Leon Rose . . .
Rose’s two most significant moves as president? Trading for Towns before last season and firing Thibodeau after last season and replacing him with Brown.
Right now, the jury remains out on both.
The Knicks lost some toughness when they got rid of Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, but it seemed like a decent gamble at the time. The hiring of Brown is a tougher one, given that he runs an offense that doesn’t match the strengths of his players.
Of course, the best way for everyone to keep his job is to figure this team out before it snowballs. There’s still a little time.
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.
