Karl-Anthony Towns , a center for the New York Knicks, only scored 17 points in Monday’s offensive performance against the Houston Rockets, resulting in a 109-97 loss. It wasn’t his best night as he came off a 21-point, 11-rebound night against the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
Towns was guarded by defensive specialist Dillon Brooks during their game against the Rockets. Although Brooks is a strong defender, KAT is taller than the Canadian striker and has a clear advantage. The Knicks big man is seven feet tall, while the Houston forward is six-foot-six.
Following their loss, Knicks forward Josh Hart talked about their lack of ball movement as they relied on KAT’s mismatch with Brooks.
“We can’t just try to consistently chase the mismatch,” Hart said. “We’ve got to get more movement into it. Even when we got the mismatch we wanted, it was very stagnant. And then we’re just going against a loaded defense. Then it’s tough to offensive rebound, tough to do stuff like that. I think we were decent. We probably complained a little bit too much [to the referees], let that take us out of the game. We’ve just got to learn from it and build off of it.”
Hart highlighted the team’s stagnant offense against Houston.
“I think sometimes we have Brooks on KAT and we’re trying to find that, we’re trying to get [Alperen Sengun] into the action. We’re doing that so much, KAT’s catching the ball 12 feet from the basket and he turns and they have everybody in the paint converging and it’s not as much of a mismatch as we would like. But when we’re able to kind of get the ball moving, forcing them to make reads and get into their weak side of the court and think defensively, that’s when you open up the slips, the mistakes, and you’re able to capitalize on it. We scored [a season-low] 97 points. Offensively, we have to be more decisive, more in tune with the game. Teams see that they’re going to think that’s the blueprint.”
Karl-Anthony Towns stays ready for any defense he’ll face
After Karl-Anthony Towns’ 44-point performance against the Miami Heat on Wednesday, it looked like he figured out how to play with the rest of the Knicks. But against the Rockets, he couldn’t build on his momentum and showed no offensive aggression.
Even so, the All-Star center is ready for any matchup opposing teams send his way moving forward.
“I’ve seen a lot of defenses in my career, so I’m just going to be prepared for whatever the defense and the opponent’s game plan is,” Karl-Anthony Towns said.
Towns have played six games this season, averaging 21.3 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
