Karl-Anthony Towns a non-factor for Knicks in Game 2 vs. Pistons

On paper, before the game began, it was easy to point out the mismatch, the place where the Knicks could thrive and ease their way to a dominant lead in the first-round playoff series against the Pistons.

The Pistons were shorthanded in the middle, missing their hard-nosed backup center Isaiah Stewart, leaving them to find a way to try to keep Karl-Anthony Towns from taking over.

But it turned out that the Knicks did it for them.

Towns scored just 10 points, all in the first half of Game 2 on Monday night. He didn’t make a shot after the midpoint of the second quarter and took just three shots in the third quarter, none in the fourth quarter as the Knicks were once again trying to mount a furious comeback after digging themselves into a hole.

The cast that had been assembled to provide help for Jalen Brunson — Towns and Mikal Bridges the huge trade pieces acquired in the summer — could not save him. Towns, whether it was his own reticence to take over or the inability of the point guard or coach to put him in position to do so, was invisible. And Bridges, after starting well, missed all four of his field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, including a potential tying three-pointer that Brunson created for him with 11 seconds left in the 100-94 loss.

“Definitely taking each possession at a time and trying to figure out the best course of action,” Brunson said. “It’s very tough when there’s definitely one ball. We have a lot of great players on this team and definitely it’s on my shoulders. I’m not going to point fingers and say some people do that and this. It’s on me to make sure I set the table. So I’ll go back, and I’ll figure out what I need to do. We’ll have conversations and we’ll come back better for Game 3.”

It wasn’t just Towns who didn’t get opportunities. The Knicks had just 15 assists in Game 2, their lowest total all season. (The last time they had less was Jan. 18, 2023.) But Towns is the playoff-tested big man who scored 24.4 points per game this season — and 23 in the first game of the series.

The Pistons opted to keep starting center Jalen Duren off Towns and instead do what many teams have done this season — place a wing on him. In this case, that was Tobias Harris. The 6-8  Harris from Long Island was able to stay with him on the three-point line, and Towns was unable to bully his way into the paint.

“I let the defense tell me [what to do],” Towns said. “Obviously, I’m always trying to get involved as much as possible. Whether it’s post-up, I feel like I’ve worked tremendously hard on my game to have an outside-inside game, I think I’ve proven that to the world year in and year out. Just being aggressive, getting to spots I can do what I do best.”

“I thought Tobias was great,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Tobias did a phenomenal job of just being physical with him, not letting him get to his spot. Make him take tough twos over the top of him, eliminated a lot of the catch-and-shoot threes that he'd been getting throughout the season, but I thought Tobias was unbelievable, in being physical without fouling him and just making him earn everything.”

As far as not fouling that may be in the eye of the beholder as the Knicks had their legitimate gripes with the officiating — Detroit got 14 free throws before the Knicks took one. But Towns has the ability to force the officials to blow the whistle, and on this night he seemed to disappear.

He often attempted to force his way inside but then turned and faded when Duren would appear as a help defender. In the first two games of the series against a foul-prone Pistons defense, Towns has drawn just three fouls and did not get to the free-throw line once Monday.

"He’s getting touches,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s making the right play. If he’s getting double-teamed, I don’t want him to shoot the ball over three people. That makes no sense to me.”

Towns would not criticize his teammates and remained confident that things would change Thursday in Game 3 in Detroit.

“Just trying to have the game do what it does, just executing what we talked about,” Towns said. “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.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.