Knicks already know how to fix their Karl-Anthony Towns problem

Everybody wants Karl-Anthony Towns to provide more value on the offensive end than he did in Game 3 against the San Antonio Spurs. Fortunately for the New York Knicks, they already know the solution, and how to execute it: by getting him the ball. 

This sounds reductive. It’s not. These Knicks are proof.

Way back when, in the first round of the playoffs, he was struggling to find his mojo against the Atlanta Hawks. On the heels of a Game 3 loss, he asked Mike Brown about being used more often as a facilitator. New York’s head honcho obliged, and the team proceeded to rip off 13 straight wins, break point-differential records nightly, and seize a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

All of this wasn’t strictly because the Knicks gave Towns more touches. They have deviated from him as the central hub for stretches before. But they have shown they can get him the ball on demand. The San Antonio Spurs have yet to do anything that suggests this series will be any different.

Karl-Anthony Towns’ involvement is a problem of the Knicks’ own design

People like to attribute Towns’ forgettable Game 3 to the Spurs moving Victor Wembanyama off him, and using Stephon Castle (and other smaller players) to guard him instead. They also like to paint Towns’ fourth-quarter performance in this series—zero points, zero free-throw attempts, six total shots—as a lack of aggression. 

Those justifications are misleading. Granted, they are not entirely false. Towns has moments in which he should more aggressively battle for position, or call for the ball. 

But the crux of his game, even as the Knicks’ primary playmaker, has always been predicated on someone getting him the ball first. He isn’t constantly dribbling up the floor. He’s more likely trailing plays, setting shop up top, or stationing himself near the elbows. New York’s ball-handlers are tasked with getting him the ball from there. 

That didn’t happen in Game 3. And while it may not have happened enough in Games 1 and 2, it happened a heck of a lot more often. Here are the number of touches Towns has received over the course of this series:

• Game 1: 63 touches in 34.4 minutes
• Game 2: 64 touches in 39.9 minutes
• Game 3: 45 touches in 38 minutes

Towns’ latest outing featured quite the drop-off. It isn’t solely on Jalen Brunson’s over-dribbling, either. Towns attempted just four shots during the minutes he played without JB. One of those looks was a put-back off an offensive rebound. 

Castle doesn’t deserve all of the credit, either. He helped make the offense uncomfortable, but Towns has six inches on him. Getting the ball to a seven-footer being defended by a guard isn’t that hard.

The Knicks don’t have to overthink this

New York’s aversion to featuring Towns should wind up being a blip on the radar. Even Mike Brown sounded like someone who knows this was an unnecessary deviation. 

Carving out touches for Towns is fairly intuitive. He doesn’t need a ball-screen to get free. The Knicks can pitch the rock to him above the break. They can certainly have him establish position on the block when being guarded by someone other than Wemby.

Of course, Wembanyama roaming is a concern. He can single-handedly gum up Towns’ interior touches, and his drives. 

In that case, the Knicks can run more off-ball screening actions that pull Wemby away from the basket, if not coax him into switching back onto Towns. Believe it or not, the Knicks haven’t just done this before. They did it in Game 3.

Involving Towns more in the offense isn’t rocket science. It also isn’t (entirely) about him being more aggressive. It’s about getting him the ball—something that is neither complicated nor foreign. The Knicks know how to do it. Brunson included. They just have to play like it.

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