Karl-Anthony Towns seemingly wasn’t aligned with the New York Knicks during Tuesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. The All-Star center apparently skipped the team huddles multiple times. Several fans seated in the arena took note of this unusual incident. Towns was the only player who got going for New York with a team-high 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists on 41.2% shooting.
No other player scored over 13 points as New York fell to a 111-94 loss, recording its third consecutive defeat. Just a few days ago, Towns expressed that his role wasn’t clear in the Knicks’ offense. Since Mike Brown took over, he’s not had as many opportunities to impact the game with Jalen Brunson leading the usage charts and the ball moving more frequently outside of him.
Knicks fans felt the same after another loss, especially with Towns looking dejected and taking part in team huddles.
Here’s how fans reacted to his behavior:
“If I’m KAT, I call out Mike Brown during media availability,” one fan said.
Knicks need a more active Karl-Anthony Towns to overcome offensive woes
Karl-Anthony Towns is arguably one of the best scoring centers in the NBA. However, the Knicks haven’t utilized him like that this season. He’s averaging his lowest points per game since his rookie year, with 20.1 points on a career-low 13.9 field goal attempts. Towns remains efficient from all ranges, making 49.4% of his shots overall and a respectable 36.8% from deep.
However, Mike Brown wants the ball to move as much as possible if it isn’t in Jalen Brunson’s hands, which makes it difficult for Towns to find his rhythm. One of the more recent instances of that was against the OKC Thunder on Sunday when Towns had only nine attempts, making five. He scored 15 and recorded 18 rebounds.
The Knicks can be more dangerous if Karl-Anthony Towns is consistently the second option, as last year under Tom Thibodeau’s coaching. If not, it could be easier for teams to limit Jalen Brunson and force the others to make shots.
