Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns shut down by Celtics’ swarming defense
If Karl-Anthony Towns’ first game against the Celtics as a Knick — his debut in October — was a dud, then this was a disaster.
A night of total ineffectiveness. Of few attempts and even fewer makes. Of a lost rebounding battle against a Boston team missing its starting center.
Towns’ first season with the Knicks hit a low point Saturday during their 131-104 embarrassment against the Celtics at the Garden, when he finished with a season-low nine points on 3-for-8 shooting and just nine rebounds.
He was downgraded to questionable before the game with a knee injury, tied his fewest attempts in a game this campaign, finished with fewer than 10 rebounds for just the eighth time this year, and admitted afterward that he wasn’t 100 percent.
“I’m gonna watch the tape to find out,” Towns said when asked how the Celtics limited his attempts. “I got a good idea, though.”
Saturday marked the latest instance of Towns’ knee injury — patellar tendinopathy — popping up for the Knicks in a campaign where he has also been forced to navigate a thumb injury. But Towns, the blockbuster acquisition that instantly bolstered the Knicks’ ability to contend with teams such as the Celtics, said following the game that he wanted to fight through the knee injury.
Boston eliminated his impact almost entirely, though.
Towns managed 12 points and seven rebounds in the opener, when the Celtics didn’t have center Kristaps Porzingis, and they didn’t have their second-leading rebounder again Saturday.
Instead, a combination of former Knick Luke Kornet (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Neemias Queta (eight rebounds) helped stabilize the Celtics’ rebounding, while Towns, who entered the night ranked No. 2 in the NBA in rebounds per game (13.6), couldn’t establish control.
Boston finished with a 48-30 advantage on the glass.
“The rebounding was problematic to start,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It was problematic throughout.”
From the start, the Celtics swarmed Towns on offense.
Queta’s help defense near the right block in the first quarter helped alter a shot. In the third, just as the Knicks were cutting into a massive deficit and Towns’ emphatic dunk got them within eight, he was called for a travel when driving and doubled.
Thibodeau even changed his lineup at halftime by keeping Miles McBride on the court over Precious Achiuwa to start the third, hoping to free up space for Towns.
It didn’t work. Towns managed just three points across the final two quarters.
And for the second time this year against the Celtics, with the Knicks needing their second superstar to deliver a performance of that caliber alongside Jalen Brunson (36 points), Towns faltered.
“They did certain things, but I think at the same time, it’s on us, too,” Brunson said. “We’re not gonna win individually, and we need him. And I think as teammates, including myself, know we just need to put him in a better position to be successful.”
