CHICAGO — Karl-Anthony Towns was injured late in Saturday's loss to the Bulls and limped back to the locker room.
However, the center appeared to have avoided anything serious as he was well enough to undergo a thorough post-match weightlifting session and no tests were deemed necessary.
When asked how he was feeling, he replied, “I'm sweating.” “tired.”
Towns collapsed to the court after making an and-1 with about 96 seconds left in the Knicks' 139-126 loss.
He was flanked by Bulls defenders Coby White and Nikola Vucevic during the play and came off the bench shortly after scoring a game-high 44 points on free throws.
Towns declined to reveal the cause of his pain — “it's somewhere out there” — or his optimism for Monday's game against the Magic — “I'm just taking it day by day, regardless.” The content was explained in detail and in an interesting manner.
“I got hit,” he said. “I was going for a dunk. I saw it. [White] Probably wasn't meant to give me that, so I changed hands and tried to do my best Michael Jordan impression.
“It hurt. All I really saw was an and-one that was too late to help me win. To be honest with God, I didn't think I made it.”
This injury occurred with the Knicks trailing by 15 points and certain to lose.
Towns missed games early in the season with a knee contusion.
This injury is similar.
As Jalen Brunson recalled, his “Welcome to the NBA” moment happened in his first home game against the Timberwolves as a Mavericks rookie.
Opponent Derrick Rose “kept killing me” on a play that coincidentally was called by former T-Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau.
Years later, Brunson and Rose became teammates on the Knicks, and both developed a mentor-apprentice relationship.
So it was special that Brunson attended the celebration of Rose's career in Chicago on Saturday night.
“Words cannot express how grateful I am to have him as a role model and mentor,” Brunson said. “He's my man and I love him to death.”
The Bulls strategically planned their Rose Night game against the Knicks with his ties to the franchise in mind.
The Bulls also announced Saturday that his No. 1 jersey will be retired starting next season. That puts it alongside the jersey numbers of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Jerry Sloan and Bob Love.
