Karl-Anthony Towns pulled a Houdini when the Knicks needed him the most.
Towns, after a strong Game 1, disappeared late in the Knicks’ 100-94 Game 2 loss Monday night at Madison Square Garden, which evened the series at one apiece heading back to Detroit.
He finished with just 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and missed both of his 3-point attempts.
Most notably, he did not attempt a single shot in the fourth quarter despite playing all 12 minutes.
“Just trying to have the game do what it does, just executing what we talked about,” Towns said of his lack of involvement down the stretch. “I thought we got some great shots, some great looks, you live with those kinds of great shots and great looks, especially when you’ve fought back in the game.”
Towns was primarily guarded by Tobias Harris, a wing who Towns owns a size advantage against.
But he was not aggressive at all in trying to bully Harris in the paint or trying to use his strength to slash to the rim.
Harris got help as well.
The Pistons have had Jalen Duren, their center, match up with Josh Hart on defense through the first two games.
Duren often camps in the paint, leaving Hart, a poor 3-point shooter, open outside the perimeter.
Hart has yet to make Duren and the Pistons really pay for that strategy.
That has allowed Duren to protect the rim and help on either Towns or Jalen Brunson.
“[Towns] was getting touches, but he’s making the right play,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “If he’s getting double-teamed, I don’t want him just shooting the ball over three people. That makes no sense to me.”
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Towns was key to the Knicks’ 21-0 run and fourth-quarter comeback in Game 1, finishing with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks.
That non-scoring activity was absent Monday as well.
Towns had just six rebounds, no assists, no steals and one block.
“I was executing what we said we wanted to do,” Towns said. “Just maybe, you always wish you could get one of those long rebounds, loose balls. It was something that got us, they got those 50-50 balls. We just didn’t get that today. It put us in a tough spot, we fought back, we put ourselves in the game, gave ourselves a chance, took some good shots. You trust everyone in this locker room to take those shots and make them. Nothing to feel bad about getting those kinds of shots.”