MIAMI — Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t blinking in the face of his shooting slump.
The Knicks’ All-Star big man said he’ll keep firing from deep despite a cold start to the season under new head coach Mike Brown.
“I thought I took some shots that were good, that felt good. It just didn’t go in,” Towns said after shooting 1-of-7 from three in Monday’s loss to the Heat. “The numbers will always number out, the averages average out. I’m confident in my shot.”
Towns finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds on 7-of-20 shooting but missed his first six threes before finally connecting with 22.4 seconds left — a late make that cut Miami’s lead to one before the Knicks eventually fell by two.
The skilled Knicks big man now has more games with one or fewer made threes (7) than games with two or more (6).
“I’m going to keep shooting, keep being aggressive,” he said after New York’s fourth straight road loss. “Keep finding ways to impact winning and hopefully help us win games.”
Towns believes he’s the best shooting center ever, and his résumé matches the claim: the only big man to win the NBA Three-Point Contest (2022) and a career 40% shooter from deep. But he’s at just 34.8% this season, which would be his lowest mark since his rookie year.
“I thought we took some good shots. We just didn’t make them,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. I can only speak for myself.”
The Knicks collectively shot 9-of-36 (25%) from three while playing without Jalen Brunson (ankle) and OG Anunoby (hamstring).
“Most of the looks from the three-point line, I’ll take any day of the week,” Brown said. “They were good looks by a couple of our guys and we usually knock those down. They didn’t go in today.”
Brown noted New York typically gets closer to 40 attempts per game.
“A couple of them were rushed and contested,” he said. “But we had some in the second half that I thought were wide-open that normally go down. They just didn’t.”
BROWN: ‘I GOTTA BE BETTER’
Brown also shouldered blame for burning his coach’s challenge in the first half — a decision that cost the Knicks in crunch time.
“It was a bad challenge that I did. I gotta be better,” he said. “As much as I’m telling those guys to be better, I’ve got to be better.”
Brown challenged an offensive foul on Josh Hart during a dribble-handoff early in the game.
“It was a bad challenge just from the simple fact that I couldn’t use it in the second half because I blew it in the first half,” he said. “I have to be better in that area. … At the end of the day, we have to leave the officials alone.”
Hart didn’t remember the sequence with much clarity.
“I don’t know,” he said. “They called a foul, so yeah. It is what it is.”
MCBRIDE THROWS DOWN 1ST DUNK OF SEASON
Miles McBride delivered the highlight of the night — a one-handed transition dunk over Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. in the fourth quarter.
“I needed it,” he said. “It would have been a lot better with a win though.”
McBride had four dunks in 2023, 12 in 2024 and 10 in 2025. Monday’s slam was his first of the 2025–26 season.
“I like that y’all remember [my dunks]. I’m racking ’em up,” he said. “It feels good, though. I’ve gotta continue to attack the basket with force.”
