The New York Knicks have a big problem, and it starts with their All-Star center, Karl-Anthony Towns. On Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings, Towns couldn’t take over the game after Jalen Brunson went down early with an injury, and New York got throttled by the worst team in the league as a result.
Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns can’t figure things out
Towns only scored 13 points and shot just 5-for-14 from the field in the loss. A symbolic moment happened midway into the second quarter, when Towns fell down after a hard drive to the basket and did not get back on defense, not even crossing half court until a loose ball was recovered by Sacramento.
What resulted was a three-pointer for the Kings, a huge swing play that took the momentum away from New York. The Knicks didn’t cut the deficit to single digits until garbage time, putting the finishing touches on the team’s most embarrassing loss of the season.
Head coach Mike Brown was not pleased with Towns’ effort level on Wednesday, and specifically pointed out the aforementioned play in the second quarter during his postgame presser.
“When you fall down, you got to get up and got to sprint down the floor. And even when you’re the last guy down the floor, you got to get down there just in case there’s a long rebound. But there was no urgency. That wasn’t the only play. There were a handful of plays that we did that. But there was no sense of urgency on that particular play to get back. And it was a five-point swing,” Brown said (h/t Stefan Bondy of the New York Post).
Towns’ season has hit rock bottom
Towns’ rough season is beginning to spiral out of control. The Knicks are just 2-6 in their last eight games, and Towns has still yet to find his rhythm as the halfway point of the season approaches.
New York won’t be able to play at their best if they can’t get their All-Star big man going. His impact makes all the difference for this team, but when he isn’t feeling like his All-Star self, it’s harder for the rest of the guys to replace that production nightly.
Towns needs a bounce back game badly, and he will have an opportunity to do that on Thursday when he and the Knicks take on the Warriors to close out the West Coast trip.