ORLANDO, Fla. — The only thing consistently stopping Karl-Anthony Towns is foul trouble.
Amidst a strong start with his new franchise, the center has become increasingly susceptible to personal fouls, especially early in games, an area that both Towns and his coaches acknowledge needs adjustment.
An adjustment to at least avoid unnecessary fouls.
“There are some good aggressive fouls, and there are obviously cheap fouls that we have to clean up,” Tom Thibodeau said. “I think it’s important for him to understand the difference between the two and what they’re called.
“And I think discipline is the most important thing. And we want contact, but we also want it to be done with intelligence. That's a big part of the physicality, a big part of winning. What do civil servants want? He's been around long enough to know what they're looking for. So get that verticality right. one, and the settings screen is the other.”
Towns is tough to referee because he's big, strong, creates contact, and plays physical. Recently, for some reason, the whistle has become louder. He has accumulated at least five fouls in four of his last six games.
In last week's win over New Orleans, Towns was limited to 27 minutes and 11 points, mostly due to foul trouble. During a win over the Spurs on Christmas Day, he collected his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, but still scored 21 points in 29 minutes. In Friday night's 108-85 win in Orlando, Towns once again overcame foul issues and scored just 16 points in 32 minutes.
“Let's start with the man in the mirror,” Towns said. “Maybe I need to make better decisions. Maybe I’ll give up on one or two. [bad fouls]. So do your job first. Take out what I can handle. ”
Towns added that there were other fouls that he didn't understand and that it was “not up to me” to avoid them. But in the end he said: The best thing is that we won. At the end of the day, that's the only thing that matters. ”
The Knicks are certainly winning. Heading into Saturday's game against the Wizards, the Knicks (21-10) have won six straight and 16 of their past 20. Towns played a big part in that — at least while the whistle wasn't kicking him off the floor.
“We're doing a good job, especially when we're allowed to play physically,” Towns said. “That's when we're at our best. We're taking advantage of our opportunities… getting stops, getting turnovers and being able to convert them into points.”
