Karl-Anthony Towns scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field in the third quarter alone as the Knicks built a 14-point lead in Game 2 against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. He then proceeded to take just two shots in the final period, missing both, finishing with no points in the fourth as the Knicks watched a a double-digit lead evaporate into a 107-106 series-evening loss at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
“The opportunity just didn’t come around to shoot it, but at the end of the day, I trust everyone in this locker room to shoot the ball,” Towns said at his locker after the game. “It just didn’t find me. The opportunity wasn’t available for me in the fourth, and that’s fine, but these guys, they work on their games. I know they can shoot it.”
It’s the most recent example of the most troubling theme underscoring the Knicks and their championship aspirations this season: New York’s inability to consistently involve its highest-paid player and talented scoring center within the normal flow of the offense.
Towns is a six-time All-Star who has six 24-plus-point seasons on his resume but averaged just 20 points a game this season under new head coach Mike Brown, 4.3 fewer points than he posted last season under Tom Thibodeau. Towns averaged a career-low 13.8 field goal attempts this season, and his 20 points are the fewest he’s averaged since his rookie year.
On Monday, he finished with 18 points on 12 shot attempts while Jalen Brunson shot 10-of-26 for 29 points and took eight shots in the fourth quarter, making only three.
Brown said Towns needs to be more aggressive demanding the ball.
“KAT’s a great player, so he’s just got to impose his will on the game. And if he was a young guy, maybe I would need to say something to him,” the coach said after the loss. “But as a veteran guy that’s been an All-Star as many times as he has, I don’t need to tell him every game he’s got to be aggressive. He knows we need him to do that.”
Josh Hart said the team needs to do a better job of hunting KAT within the offense. Which should have gone without saying, because Towns has averaged 28 points per game against the Hawks since his arrival in the 2024 trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Atlanta’s starting center Onyeka Okongwu was listed as questionable with right knee soreness the morning of Game 2 while Hawks reserve big man Jock Landale remains out with an ankle injury.
“I mean, that’s something we got to make sure he’s involved — find him on mismatches, put him into actions, make sure we use his skill and his gravity to our advantage,” he said at the podium after the game. “And that’s something that we’ll look at on film and be better with.”
Towns scored 25 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field in Game 1. He is now averaging 21.5 points on 56% shooting from the field and 55% shooting from 3-point range through the first two games.