Before Tuesday night’s nationally televised matchup with the Golden State Warriors, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau announced that center Karl-Anthony Towns would miss the game due to personal reasons. Thibodeau said he’s not sure when Towns will return or if he will even accompany the team on their West Coast trip starting Thursday. All that matters is that Towns takes his time to attend to whatever he and his family are going through, and there’s no use speculating about when he will be back. Fortunately, New York can sustain an extended absence from their big man.
Knicks Can Sustain Success During Karl-Anthony Towns’ Absence
The Knicks had a rough outing last night without their All-Star center. Precious Achiuwa was forced into action after light usage since Mitchell Robinson‘s return, especially with Mitch still having a minutes restriction. It did not go well, as he and Josh Hart destroyed the team’s spacing, leading to just 102 points. Hart is in a shooting slump and is unwilling to take threes at the moment, and should never be played next to Achiuwa. He was a staggering -22 last night. Thibodeau should use Miles McBride more often, in particular when Achiuwa needs to soak up big man minutes. If Robinson can play closer to 25 minutes here soon, this will become less of a problem.
New York Has Margin For Error Without Towns
While the Knicks desperately need Towns in the lineup for everything he provides offensively, there is no reason for him to rush back. New York is 4.5 games clear of Milwaukee and Indiana for the third seed, and 5.5 ahead of Detroit. Furthermore, they are three games back of Boston for the second spot, and the Celtics have the second-easiest remaining schedule. Thibodeau’s group is almost certain to be the third seed in the East playoffs.
With that said, New York has three objectives for the rest of the season. First and most importantly, be as healthy as possible for the playoffs. They should routinely rest banged-up players and even give their most valuable guys a day off here and there. They finally have all ten of their rotation players healthy, and should do everything in their power to keep it that way come mid-April. Secondly, Thibodeau wants to continue to mold strategies for the postseason: find their best lineups, and defensive coverages, to build a rhythm on both ends of the floor.
Lastly, NY has three more opportunities to prove to themselves and the world that they can hang with the NBA’s titans. They have two more games against Cleveland and one with Boston. At least remaining competitive in these contests, as they’ve failed to do so all year, would go a long way for their confidence heading into the playoffs.
KAT Can Take His Time
Not that this matters in the grand scheme of a family emergency, but the only other consideration is KAT’s All-NBA eligibility. He has missed only seven of NY’s 61 games so far, meaning that he needs to play in just 11 of their final 21 contests. That gives him more than enough room to handle his business and get back on the floor.
In short, Towns should take all the time he needs to return to the team. They can win enough games without him to maintain the third seed in the East. All that matters is that New York gets to the playoffs with their full cast of characters. If they do so, no one can count them out.
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