After 30 points and 15 rebounds, Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns is still not satisfied
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, front left, pulls in a rebound as Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, right, defends in the second half of an NBA game Monday in Denver. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
DENVER — Karl-Anthony Towns was one of the few Knicks starters not to set some sort of career-record performance Monday night in the annihilation of the Denver Nuggets. OG Anunoby got a career-high 40 points. Jalen Brunson handed out a career-best 17 assists. And the Knicks had staff scouring the record books for team achievements in the 145-118 win.
What Towns did might have been overlooked, and it prompted Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau to deadpan when it was listed for him, “Should have been more.”
Consider what he did accomplish on this night. He was listed as questionable with a left calf contusion and didn’t make the call to play until a little more than an hour before game time. He then took on the assignment of dueling with two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and outplayed him with 30 points on 12-for-15 shooting (2-for-2 beyond the arc), 15 rebounds and four assists.
And he agreed with Thibodeau.
“For sure. He ain’t wrong,” Towns said. “I mean, like I said, he’s not wrong. We’re going to watch the tape and we’re going to find ways I can be better. You’re never satisfied. Especially me. I’m never satisfied. I always want to be at my best for my teammates, be the best for the city and for this organization. There’s always room for improvement, every single way, no matter what, every single game. I’m excited to come out of here with a win and excited to find ways to get better.”
Towns has played well against Jokic in the past, maybe as well as anyone, and combined with Rudy Gobert in Minnesota to knock out the defending champions in the Western Conference semifinals last season. And this season, Towns and Jokic aren’t that far off in the statistics either.
Jokic is fourth in the NBA in scoring (29.7), while Towns is 10th (26.3). Jokic is leading the NBA in rebounding (13.4), and Towns is tied for second (12.6). The one clear edge for Jokic is passing, threatening to become the first player in NBA history to lead the league in rebounds and assists in the same season. He's second at 10.9 per game.
The Knicks don’t need Towns to be Jokic. Most importantly, they need him to fit in playing alongside Brunson, Anunoby and the rest of talented starting lineup. While it has come in stops and starts so far this season as the Knicks are off to a 10-7 start, there were signs of not just the offensive brilliance but a willingness to play the way Thibodeau demands. That means taking on the challenge of guarding Jokic, diving into the bench to save a loose ball and running the floor both offensively and defensively.
“This is the NBA,” Thibodeau said. “If you’re a pro athlete you’re going to be nicked up. If you can go, go. If you’re injured, sit. That’s really that simple. My thing is being mentally tough when you’re facing adversity is probably the most important thing in life regardless of what you’re doing. Get out there, get the job done. That’s the bottom line. I like that part of him.”
The Knicks now move onto Dallas, where they face a Mavericks team without Luka Doncic on Wednesday night — but one that has won two of three games without him. They beat the Nuggets and Hawks and lost to Miami in overtime.
The Knicks, after a one-sided loss on Saturday in Utah, insist that they won’t take this performance as a finished product — and won’t forget that loss.
“I don’t think for us it was any thought about that,” Towns said. “It was just we understand what happened at Utah. We wanted to get back to our standards, especially a team like this — if anyone knows I know. The MVP. You want to go out there and play your best basketball against the best. Defensively, I thought we did a great job showing up [Monday night] and offensively, obviously, as you said it was a historical night for our offense. Both sides of the bio were working today. Testament to these guys, testament to our coaching staff, getting us realigned and reestablished.”
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.
