For the third year in a row, the New York Knicks find themselves heading to the Eastern Conference Semifinals following Thursday's gutsy Game 6 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Unfortunately, this was largely accomplished in spite of the play of big man, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Though guys like Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and, of course, the captain himself, Jalen Brunson, stepped up big during the high-stakes contest, their All-Star center was seemingly nowhere to be found.
In 37 minutes of action, Towns finished with an incredibly pedestrian stat-line of 10 points and 15 rebounds on a mere 40.0 percent shooting. To add insult to injury, he wound up fouling out with less than a minute to play in regulation and while the Knicks were still down by one.
Fortunately, the NBA's Clutch Player of the Year came to the rescue following his ouster, hitting the dagger triple in the closing seconds to send the Pistons packing and punch New York's ticket to a round-two matchup against the Boston Celtics.
Now, while excitement and adrenaline may be running high among both players and fans alike, sadly, if there's one primary takeaway to be had from this first-round series, it's this: KAT has no idea how to play up to his size.
Karl-Anthony Towns' inability to utilize his size will be the death of Knicks
Sure, when looking at the stat sheet, it would seem as if Towns does what a typical big man should do and then some.
During his debut season with the Knicks, the 29-year-old went on to post some of the best averages of his career, finishing with 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and just shy of a block on 52.6 percent shooting from the floor and 42.0 percent shooting from deep.
However, when actually watching him play, it's painfully obvious that he plays with an inherent disadvantage, as he shies away from using his 7-foot, 248-pound frame to his benefit, particularly on the offensive end.
This was more than evident throughout the club's first-round showdown against Detroit.
Despite possessing the most physically dominating build on the Knicks, heading into Thursday's series-clincher, Towns found himself ranked fourth on the team in shot attempts within less than five feet from the rim with 28.
In Game 6, he attempted just three shots from within the restricted area.
To put into perspective just how underwhelming this number is, the 6-foot-2 Jalen Brunson saw 45 of such attempts throughout the entire series.
The vast majority of his damage in the scoring department came from within 10 to 29 feet, as he attempted 42 attempts from this range coming into Game 6.
Now, many will be quick to argue the fact that this shouldn't come as all that great of a surprise, considering the fact that Towns has become a five-time All-Star and is arguably the greatest shooting big man of all time thanks to this particular play style.
Though this may be true, it doesn't make it any less damaging to New York's offensive game plan, especially when considering they clearly were trying to get their interior game going throughout the series.
They became so desperate, in fact, that during their ill-fated Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks were oft-seen force-feeding Mitchell Robinson down low, just to try and get some sort of momentum going in the at-the-rim scoring department.
To no surprise, such a game plan backfired severely, as Mitch was stripped on a number of occasions and, simply, further reminded onlookers of how he lacks the proper footwork and finesse to capitalize on such play calls.
Not to mention, despite how ferocious he is when swatting away shots and throwing down fastbreak lobs, let's not forget that he is a rather slender man who, when going up against a more physically demanding assignment like Jalen Duren, can be rather easily contained.
One of the best parts about having such a massive build in the game of basketball is that it allows you the natural ability to do damage inside the painted area. With Towns' career 40.0 percent shooting clip from deep, he has the tools necessary to be a truly dominant three-level scorer.
Unfortunately, it seems that he's only managed to master two of the three levels (mid-range and beyond the arc), and, even with New York ultimately prevailing in six games, his lack of an interior presence on offense almost proved to be truly detrimental.
Though things may have worked out against the lower-ranked Pistons, doing so against the defending champion Celtics, who ranked third in opponent three-point percentage (34.2 percent), is going to be a much tougher task.
Simply put, until Towns finds a way to utilize his size properly on offense, the ceilings for both he and the Knicks may very well be capped.