Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns questionable for second Nets clash
Karl-Anthony Towns was listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Nets at the Garden after the center missed Friday’s win with a left knee contusion.
Towns went through shootaround and warm-ups prior to the game versus the Nets before it was determined he wasn’t comfortable enough, according to Tom Thibodeau on Friday.
The injury occurred during a collision with Chicago’s Zach LaVine late in Wednesday’s home loss to the Bulls.
The Knicks were hopeful Saturday’s off day might give Towns enough time to be ready for Sunday.
The same was true with Miles McBride, Thibodeau said, after McBride also was sidelined for that game with a left knee injury.
While Towns leads the Knicks in points (26.7) and rebounds (12.7), McBride has excelled as the team’s sixth man, averaging a career-best 10.7 points and 26 minutes in his 11 games this season.
Precious Achiuwa remains out with a strained hamstring and will sit again Sunday.
After Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas scored 43 points for the Nets Friday on 16-for-22 shooting, the Knicks credited the guard for his play.
On Sunday, they have to face him again and will try to limit him to fewer than 19 points in the first quarter, which is what Thomas scored Friday.
It was the second-most points scored by a player in a single quarter since the stat’s been tracked starting in 1996.
“He made some tough shots,” Thibodeau said. “It doesn’t take much to get him going. He is a prolific scorer. If you give him space, he’s going to make shots, so you have to make him play in a crowd. Some of them were defended well and he still has the ability to make [them].”
OG Anunoby said the Knicks could have done a better job.
“[He was] just coming off screens too freely and [we were] trying to make it as difficult as possible getting through screens to contest,’’ Anunoby said. “He is a great player so he made some tough shots.”
Sunday will be the Knicks’ first game after being called for 21 fouls as a team — including a controversial technical foul on Anunoby — on Friday.
Afterwards, Thibodeau criticized the officiating, saying, “We’ve been a low-fouled team for a long time now. I see what’s going on and I don’t like it. It can’t be the physicality that’s being displayed on Jalen [Brunson] when he’s bringing the ball up the floor with the grab, the hold, all that stuff. I don’t care how they call it. They can call it tight, they can call it loose, but it has to be the same for both teams.”
The Knicks enter Sunday looking to win consecutive games for just the second time this season.
They beat the Heat and Pistons in back-to-back games on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, but since then are 3-4.