Jalen Brunson is the New York Knicks’ best player, and it’s not even close. Entering an Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Indiana Pacers, though, he isn’t their most important star. That honor belongs to someone defined by his inconsistency just as much as his dominance: Karl-Anthony Towns.
This is not meant as an attempt to devalue how much the Knicks need Brunson. His ability to operate in the muck, and carry the offense on most nights cannot be replicated by anyone else on the roster. He is everything.
Oftentimes, however, the fate of a team rests in the hands of their highest-profile wildcard—that player who can shift the outcome of a postseason for both better and worse. Towns is that fortune-altering x-factor for the Knicks.
The Knicks badly need KAT to be more consistent
Few stars are as much of a human roller coaster ride as Towns. His performance can fluctuate starkly from game-to-game, even quarter-to-quarter—at both ends of the floor.
Defensive turbulence is something you sign up for when acquiring and featuring him. The seesaw outings, as well as his flat-out vanishing acts, on the offensive end are more maddening. His floor-spacing, driving, and post play are supposed to coalesce into a generational-type package.
Too many times, though, Towns fades into the background. He has attempted more than 15 shots in back-to-back games only twice all postseason. Some of that is on the Knicks for not getting him the ball. But his aggression level also waffles depending on how he’s being defended.
Towns must capitalize on Indiana’s defensive approach
That so far isn’t a problem against the Pacers. They have predominantly elected to guard him with a big, rather than using a smaller player like many other opponents. Towns averaged over 30 points while downing almost 47 percent of his threes in three regular-season games versus Indiana. Getting similar detonations in the upcoming series would go a long way toward punching New York’s ticket to the NBA Finals.
Still, the Pacers are a team that prides itself on making adjustments. They will invariably experiment with putting Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, or even Tyrese Haliburton on Towns. That could prove problematic for the Knicks, because as the brilliant Caitlin Cooper writes for Basketball, She Wrote, he tends to struggle when being guarded by smalls:
Just look at his player points per 100 half-court match-ups by defensive player position from this season, including the playoffs:
- Guards - 25.129 points per 100 half-court match-ups, 967 match-ups
- Forwards - 26.720 points per 100 half-court match-ups, 2369 match-ups
- Centers - 37.221 points per 100 half-court match-ups, 1929 match-ups
This is a huge difference. And while it's on the Knicks to get Towns more frontcourt and post touches if he's defended by tinier players, he also needs to be more assertive. Driving harder off the catch, launching more threes when he's operating from a standstill, going to the ball when he doesn't have it, throwing his seven-foot frame around on the block, and running the floor consistently so he's not entering plays late are all factors he can control.
KAT's offense will impact the Knicks defense
Towns showing more consistent aggression as a scorer isn’t just about the Knicks’ offense. It’s about the defense, too.
When Towns—and the team at large—is making shots, setting up the defense at the other end is infinitely easier. Like most other teams, New York allows noticeably fewer points after a made basket as opposed to operating off live-ball misses and turnovers, according to Inpredictable. Maximizing those opportunities is critical against a squad like the Pacers that plays fast in both transition and the half-court.
Disaster stands to strike if Towns is missing shots. He is not someone hard-wired to get back on the break right away. He can lolligag after failing to convert a three, and it takes a while for him to regather himself after follies at the basket—especially when he’s arguing non-calls.
To Towns’ credit, he has delivered more peak defensive moments in the playoffs. But that’s not the same as being—here comes that word again—consistently helpful.
Through both the regular season and playoffs (so far), the Knicks’ first-shot defense is at its absolute worst with KAT on the floor, per PBP Stats. New York overall also ranks in the bottom 10 of both opponents’ pace (28th) and points allowed per possession (23rd) after missing a three.
This all needs to change. And the Knicks have shown that it can—when Towns is at his best. To this point, though, he’s only been there on occasion, or semi-frequently. That was good enough to make the Eastern Conference Finals. He needs to be better, to be more consistent, for New York to go any further.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.