After a disappointing 108-100 loss at Madison Square Garden to the Atlanta Hawks last week in the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup, the Knicks responded well two nights later with a 100-91 statement win over the Orlando Magic, led by point guard Jalen Brunson’s 31 points and center Karl-Anthony Towns’s 22 points and 22 rebounds. The Knicks are 16-10 and third in the Eastern Conference behind the 23-4 Cleveland Cavaliers and 21-5 Boston Celtics when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight on the road.
The Knicks were somewhat exposed versus the Hawks as a team that needs a reliable big man to relieve Towns when he sits for a breather or foul trouble. Against the Hawks, it was the latter. Towns was dominant on the glass, ending the evening with a game-high 19 boards. But when he was spectating from the bench for much of the fourth quarter burdened by fouls, some avoidable and unwise, the Hawks pounded the Knicks inside, and concluded the game with a 58-49 rebound advantage, including 22 offensive boards.
“Yeah, it was a problem, probably the difference in the game,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said regarding the rebounding disparity after the loss. “I think when it got to [a] 10 [point lead] in the third, we missed some threes and then we started giving them a second and third shot. That was the problem.”
The absence of center Mitchell Robinson, who is working his way back from left ankle surgery performed last May, was more pronounced in the defeat to the Hawks than it has been in arguably any other game the Knicks have played this season. It also illuminated what has become patently obvious — that Towns is figuratively and literally the center of the Knicks universe. A force multiplier who when he is on the court with the Knicks’ other four starters – Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges – provides a dynamic that can counter any other five in the league.
But when Thiboudeau looks down his bench and considers what lineups to put on the floor when Towns exits, the options, or his trust in those options, are suspect. The 29-year-old Towns will take on his former team tonight, which drafted him No. 1 overall in 2015, having posted 15 straight double-doubles, the first Knick to achieve that mark since David Lee in 2009.
The Knicks will play the Pelicans in New Orleans on Saturday, the Toronto Raptors at MSG on Monday and the San Antonio Spurs at the Garden on Christmas Day.