Knicks coach Mike Brown had some strong words for Karl-Anthony Towns.
And Towns did not hold back in his response.
In the Knicks’ 111-97 victory over the Pistons at Madison Square Garden, Pistons center Paul Reed, filling in for the injured Jalen Duren, had an impressive first half with 15 points and five rebounds. He was definitely holding his own against Towns.
Brown made sure to address this at halftime.
“I just told him the truth,” Brown said. “I said, ‘KAT, the guy is killing us on the glass. When he grabs a rebound, he’s putting it back. If he catches it on the perimeter, make sure to guard him.’ And you know, he did those things. I have to give credit to KAT; his change in mindset was crucial for us in the second half.”
Towns ended up with a game-high 27 points and 20 rebounds, including 19 points and 11 rebounds during a much stronger second half. Reed, however, seemed to struggle after halftime, becoming visibly frustrated and even receiving a flagrant-1 foul for elbowing Towns in the head while battling for a rebound in the third quarter.
“I challenged KAT, and he really stepped up in the second half,” Brown noted. “Twenty-seven points and 20 rebounds—he’s absolutely capable of that on a regular basis.”
Brown had been experimenting with both Jalen Brunson and Towns on the bench at the same time in the first few games and it hadn’t gone well, so he switched things up for this match.
“In Games 1 and 2, I tried playing KAT and Jalen together at times, but I noticed we weren’t effective with both off the floor,” he explained. “That approach didn’t really work last year either. I thought we did it a bit in preseason, but not consistently, so it was a challenge.”
He had previously made similar adjustments with Josh Hart coming off the bench, but didn’t stick with that decision for long.
“I’m still figuring things out with the lineup,” Brown said. “You might not see some of these decisions stick as we go along. Sometimes, short-term bumps happen, like what we experienced last year. But it helps us figure out what works best for the team in the long run.”
