Karl-Anthony Towns dominates in Knicks win over Nets amid defensive struggles

New York Post

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00:00The Knicks bounce back with a 113-100 win on the road,

00:03but kind of home here in Brooklyn against the Nets.

00:05I'm Dexter Henry, joined by Stephan Bondi.

00:08And this was a game, Steph, where it's kind of ugly in the first half.

00:11Very tough watch for us here in the media and for the fans.

00:14But then the Knicks, they had a good second-half effort.

00:17We'll get to that in a second.

00:18But Carl T. Towns, he was the star offensively in this one

00:20when the Knicks needed a big offensive boost, 37 points.

00:24How encouraging was it to see this from Cat

00:26where Knicks fans have been wanting to see him step up offensively

00:29especially with the players they have out right now?

00:31Yeah, very encouraging.

00:32And it was about how he did it too.

00:34I mean, the efficiency was very high,

00:38and he didn't force any three-pointers, as he said.

00:40And listen, he's in a shooting slump.

00:42But his three-point shooting is such a threat throughout his career

00:47that a guy like Nick Claxton, when he's going to come out

00:50and try to contest that three-pointer, Cat's going to blow right by him.

00:53And he's going to get into the paint.

00:56And today he did a tremendous job either scoring in the paint

00:59or dishing it out.

01:00It was, in my opinion, I know he had a big game against Miami,

01:04but it was Cat's best performance of the season.

01:06All right, going with Cat's best performance of the season,

01:08definitely looks strong in this one.

01:10Now, defense here was not strong in the first half at all for the Knicks.

01:13Knicks have had a lot of defensive issues.

01:15You wrote about this, particularly in guarding the three-pointer.

01:18But in the second half of this game, they seemed to clamp down,

01:21led by Josh Hart, who was really good on the defensive end.

01:24What did you make of the Knicks' defensive effort?

01:26And is this encouraging, even though this was the Nets they played against tonight?

01:30I mean, that is a caveat because I thought there were still some,

01:33especially in the first half, there were still some open three-pointers

01:36that Michael Porter Jr., for instance, just missed.

01:39So the Nets did not shoot the ball well.

01:42I think overall, though, as you said,

01:44kind of when the Knicks were able to kind of take the air out of the Nets,

01:48and they did that on the defensive end,

01:50and it was a better effort because that Orlando game was very disappointing.

01:55So today was a step forward in both Cats' offensive performance

01:59and the Knicks' defensive performance.

02:01All right, we'll get to if they're really taking a step forward here later.

02:04I want to talk about some non-things related to this game,

02:06but you wrote about Mitchell Robinson, who did not play in this game.

02:09He was out due to an illness.

02:11But we know about the load management around Mitchell Robinson early in the season,

02:15and you and I had spoke about this, I think, before the season opener,

02:17that there was a potential you kind of alluded to that his agent

02:21or agents sometimes push for this with players in terms of the load management.

02:25What is going on here with Mitchell Robinson?

02:27Because Mike Brown has now sort of said what you alluded to.

02:31Yeah, he said this was in Dallas, and he kind of just revealed out of nowhere,

02:36basically, you know, he's talking about Mitchell Robinson's load management plan,

02:39and the coach said, listen, you know, I'm just listening to what Casey Smith,

02:44the VP of medicine in the Knicks, is saying,

02:45and his agent is involved, and Mitch is involved.

02:48I thought it was interesting that he said the agent,

02:49because why wouldn't an agent be dictating, you know, how many minutes a player plays?

02:55That shouldn't be a decision an agent has agency over.

02:59But listen, it is a unique situation.

03:02Mitchell Robinson has had injuries throughout his career.

03:05He's an impending free agent.

03:06There's a lot of money on the line,

03:08and there's a priority that he gets to the end of the season healthy.

03:12And clearly, you know, part of that plan is to not overextend him in the regular season,

03:18and the Knicks have been, and his agent, have been taking a cautious approach here.

03:23Understand that they're taking a cautious approach.

03:25Let me just sort of push against that for a second,

03:27because not what you're saying, but just push against the notion of that.

03:29Understand wanting to protect his value.

03:31He wants to secure the bag at the end of the year.

03:34But he also sort of needs to prove that he is available, right?

03:38And if you're not proving that you're available, we know he's not playing on back-to-backs right now.

03:42Doesn't that also kind of hurt his value?

03:43I mean, listen, I think there's a reason why there's not a rush to give him an extension.

03:48He is eligible for an extension right now.

03:50There's been no more momentum or traction towards one.

03:53So, yeah, he needs to show he's, you know, available and on the court.

03:57I think, you know, what he's been talking about all season is if I'm there in the playoffs,

04:02you know, then we can have a different conversation.

04:05And I hope to be there in the playoffs and performing in a positive way.

04:09We saw him a few years ago in that series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

04:12Remember that? He just took over.

04:14Yep.

04:14So, if that's the Mitchell Robinson that shows up in the playoffs, he is in line for a big contract.

04:18So, I think that's part of the thinking and philosophy.

04:20Yeah, and they want to get there first.

04:21I do understand that part of it.

04:23Now, Landry Shammott, obviously the tough injury against the Magic,

04:26the shoulder injury dislocation there.

04:29What are you hearing about his injury and how much of a concern is it?

04:32Because he's been really good for this team this year.

04:35If he is done for the season, not speculating that and just looking at this as a possibility,

04:39if he is done for the season, how do the Knicks replace what he has given them thus far this season?

04:43Well, I mean, first of all, we all saw it.

04:45His shoulder looked like it popped out of its socket.

04:48So, that's a tough look.

04:50Right now, the Knicks are calling it a sprained shoulder.

04:52But, with the caveat that they're not done with the full scope of the testing and we'll get a clearer update later.

04:59I think this is going to come down to, hey, you know, I had this happen last year.

05:05My shoulder was more susceptible to popping out.

05:08It did pop out.

05:09Do we now get surgery?

05:11And now I'm out for six months, at least.

05:14And the Knicks, I'm on a non-guaranteed deal.

05:16I'm talking about if I'm Landry Shammott.

05:18But, you know, and if you're the Knicks, do you cut them?

05:21And I think the answer is yes, because, you know, you need more bodies.

05:26I mean, we're seeing how banged up they are and who they're having to play.

05:30So, it is a tough spot.

05:32You know, and you look at the free agent market, there's not really anybody out there.

05:36I heard internally, this was before Landry Shammott's injury,

05:41they are still looking for a backup point guard.

05:44And one name that did come up internally, I don't think it's going to happen,

05:48but it was just Roche was Chris Paul and the Clippers.

05:52Wow.

05:52Yeah.

05:52So, listen, there's a lot of ties between Chris Paul and Leon Rose.

05:56Right.

05:57But, you know, I don't think that that's going to happen.

05:59I do know it was something that was discussed internally, though.

06:02And it's interesting, obviously, considering Chris Paul announcing that he will retire

06:06from the league at the end of the season, so that could be very interesting there.

06:10We'll talk more about that down the road.

06:11Last thing for me, Steph, you look at this Knicks schedule, you got to go back.

06:15Well, you're still on the road, technically, here in Brooklyn, but you're going to Charlotte.

06:19That's their last game they will play before Thanksgiving.

06:22It will be nice if the Knicks could get right defensively like we saw tonight.

06:25And then, again, Charlotte, how important is it that they don't play with their food

06:29through this stretch right now to end this road trip?

06:32Yeah.

06:33I mean, listen, I call it the Eastern Conference for a reason.

06:36There are a lot of teams that you should just beat up on.

06:39And the Knicks have actually done a pretty good job doing that.

06:41They pummeled the Nets twice already.

06:43They beat the snot out of the Washington Wizards.

06:46They get the Hornets now.

06:48That's a big game they should win.

06:50So, yeah, this is a way to pad your record.

06:54And like we said, you have to get to the playoffs first.

06:56This is a way to do it.

06:57You beat on the teams you're supposed to.

06:58Yeah, you got to do it.

06:59Beat the snot out of.

06:59Haven't heard that in quite some time.

07:01I was going to say something else.

07:02You caught yourself.

07:03Self-censoring.

07:04That is always good.

07:06Next with a dominant win here tonight at the Barclays Center, 113-100.

07:09Steph has to get on a flight and get to Charlotte.

07:12Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

07:13Thanks, man.

07:14Glad you will be back in time for Thanksgiving.

07:16Then the Knicks are home to the Bucs on Friday night.

07:18That's Steph and Bondi.

07:19I'm Dexter Henry.

07:20We'll catch you next time.

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