After the Knicks won Game 5, Charles Barkley chose to ask Karl-Anthony Towns about one of his main issues to his face.
The New York Knicks took care of the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 to keep their season alive. A comfortable 111-94 win shows the Knicks aren’t done just yet.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson matched a Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal record in the win. The duo led the way for New York with 24 and 32 points, respectively.
Tyrese Haliburton’s Game 5 disasterclass certainly helped, but no Pacers player had it going on the night. Indiana’s best run on the night came because of Towns getting into foul trouble.
This is a frequent issue with KAT, and something that an NBA legend brought up after the game.
Towns had 5 personal fouls on the night, picking up his fourth in the third quarter. Indiana had no answers for him on Thursday night, but he took himself out of the game for a while there.
Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA crew noticed this. In an interview with KAT right after the win, Barkley called him out for his decision-making.
“I gotta criticize you. Yo man, why you be getting them dumb fouls? Why do you do that?” Barkley said to Towns’ face. “I got the same question,” O’Neal added as the 29-year-old laughed.
“God only knows,” Towns answered. “I gotta do a much better job of that… I can’t. You ain’t wrong, you ain’t wrong. It hurts our team.
“Again, I wanna give a shoutout to the bench. Achiuwa, whoever comes in. They hold it down even when I’m making these mistakes. I gotta fix that, though.”
Much has been made about Tom Thibodeau’s preference for playing his starters big minutes. Since arriving in New York, Towns is being relied upon even more than he was with the Timberwolves.
This means that the big man has to stay on the court. His fouling stats during these playoffs don’t make for great reading, though.
KAT is averaging 4.3 personal fouls per game throughout the playoffs. This is the most he has ever fouled during the postseason. It’s the highest mark of his career.
This affects rotations, and it affects consistency for the big man himself. One way or another, he has to fix the issue if New York is going to win a championship with this core.
