Karl-Anthony Towns had time for one more question. Actually, make it two. He’d just finished his postgame press conference at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks jumped out to a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, in large part due to New York’s increased willingness to run offense through its All-Star center.
Towns has answered question after question about his offense, his shot attempts, his touches, his rhythm with team captain and All-Star guard Jalen Brunson. He hasn’t quite spoken about his defense, a wild card for a Knicks team with championship aspirations, an aspect of his game shining through in Round 1.
Towns is quietly having one of the best defensive stretches of his NBA career. He added to his playoff tally with two more blocks and two more steals in the Knicks’ 29-point Game 5 victory over the Hawks on Tuesday. Towns had 12 blocks and 13 steals total over the life of the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals run under head coach Tom Thibodeau last season.
Through the first five playoff games this season under Mike Brown, he’s already up to nine blocks and seven steals.
“I don’t know,” he said in a walk-and-talk with the Daily News. “But I’m glad you know that I’m able to do something I feel is one of my best assets.”
The scouting report calls it a good shot. Towns takes it personal. In Game 5 on Tuesday, both CJ McCollum and Jalen Johnson had Towns where they thought they wanted him: on an island, at the top of the key in an isolation situation. Both have come to learn Towns is quicker, lankier and more agile than they expected.
“He’s big. He’s very big and still can move,” McCollum told The News after shootaround Wednesday morning. “Obviously, he’s athletic enough to move laterally and he’s big enough to protect the basket.”
With just over a minute left in the first quarter of Game 5 and the Knicks up 10, McCollum used a Tony Bradley screen to draw Towns on a switch. McCollum accelerated. Towns stuck with him stride for stride. And when McCollum used a short step-back to create space behind the left wing, Towns stuck with him again. McCollum jacked up a three, but Towns got a piece. Airball. Knicks ball, out in transition on the way up the floor, a byproduct of what Towns believes is an understated part of his defensive game.
“Actually switching on the guards,” he told The News. “Today it was one of those moments where I had to guard an All-Star like Jalen Johnson and my team just trusted me to meet the moment.”
That moment came with 8:48 to go in the second quarter. The scouting report told Johnson, much like it told McCollum, to attack with Towns as his primary defender. Johnson had Towns isolated at the top of the key and turned a between-the-legs crossover into a hesitation drive down the middle of the lane. It didn’t fool Towns, who stood his ground, absorbed the contact, then punched Johnson’s floater attempt out of the sky.
“I always think defense is about effort and energy. So when everybody’s locked in, I always feel like it’s never one guy’s fault,” said Miles McBride. “It’s never one guy’s problem. It’s a whole team thing. So when everybody’s locked in, it just carries over.”
Towns doesn’t need to open social media to understand what the critics say about his defense. He can see it through opposing game plans, though the opponents’ desire to attack him in pick-and-roll and isolation situations. He knows opponents consider defense a weakness in his game.
“I think it’s personal anytime you step on the court, sure,” Towns said. “You want to be the best version of yourself against your competitors. So, yeah. All of us are just competing at the highest level against each other. You want to do your best.”
For what it’s worth, McBride doesn’t agree with the scouting report on his All-Star teammate. He’s watching Towns play the best defense of his career.
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t know what people really say,” he said. “For us, he’s great. So, I’m always going to rock with him. I believe in him.”
Towns’ averages of 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals mark the best defensive playoff series of his career. He had three blocks and a steal in Game 1, two blocks in Game 2, two blocks and two steals in Games 3 and 5, and two steals in Game 4.
Those are only the counting stats, numbers failing to account for deterred shots and solid defensive rotations that force turnovers or contested shots elsewhere on the floor.
Towns, for example, had to defend four different players on one possession with 1:47 left in the second quarter on Tuesday, first the cross-court pass to Onyeka Okongwu, then the swing-swing that left him on Dyson Daniels, and then another swing to McCollum after Josh Hart lost his footing on a cut to the rim. Towns was not credited with a block or steal on this play, but he rotated efficiently and forced a miss on McCollum’s floater. The Hawks’ guard had a miserable 3-of-10 shooting night.
“[KAT’s defense] has been pretty good. You have to give him a lot of credit,” head coach Mike Brown said ahead of tipoff on Tuesday. “He was trying to rebound, trying to be strong when he switches onto the small, he’s trying to sit down. He just has to keep pushing himself, including transition and all, so that we can be impactful or effective on that floor.”
There were hiccups, of course. Team defense remains a work in progress. On two separate possessions, Brunson and Towns had defensive miscues that led to wide-open Dyson Daniels field goals: first with 5:30 left in the second quarter, when neither of the All-Stars shifted over to Daniels behind the 3-point line, then again with 6:25 to go in the third, when Brunson gambled on a steal in a pick-and-roll scenario. Daniels got a free roll to the rim before Towns realized the Hawks guard was wide-open.