All-Star Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns said he’s unbothered by Mike Brown’s decision to reduce his minutes in a third consecutive game — all victories.
“He saw what he saw. We got a win. That’s the most important thing,” Towns said after logging 27 minutes — the fewest of all five starters — in New York’s 103-87 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Asked if he was upset or frustrated over the minutes distribution, Towns repeated his sentiment. “We got the win. That’s the most important thing. That’s all I care about. That’s all this team cares about — is the win.”
Towns, who is in a down year, logged 27 minutes on Tuesday but watched the final 6:51 of the fourth quarter from the bench for the second game in a row. The Knicks were up by four when Towns went to the bench and went on to build a lead that ballooned to 18 before puling away to win by 16 points.
Brown closed the game with Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson with Towns and Josh Hart on the bench.
Tuesday marked the seventh game this season with a grand total of 23 minutes shared on the floor for that five-man unit. It is outscoring opponents by 26.4 points per 100 possessions.
“I know at the end of the game, we had a group out on the floor that’s playing well, and it’s a tight ball game so I just rode that group to the end of the game, which I’ve done before,” said Brown. “We had Deuce out there, who’s not a starter, and Mitch out there, who’s not a starter. So again, we need to get the win, and the biggest thing was Mikal was at 37 [minutes], but other than Mikal, everybody was at decent minutes especially knowing we’ve got a game tomorrow.”
While Towns remained outwardly unbothered by the new rotations — and while Brown highlighted Wednesday’s second leg of a back-to-back against the Toronto Raptors as a reason to preserve his star big man’s legs — Tuesday marked the third game in a row Towns has seen a significant decline in his minutes, particularly late in game, though much of the decline can be attributed to foul trouble.
Towns finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes against the Kings. He played a total of 36 minutes combined in New York’s two previous wins against the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.
