Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns battled through a left hand injury in Saturday’s 115-93 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Trailing 47-27 with 7:31 remaining in the first half, Towns powered to the rim, lofting a right-handed floater over Boston’s Al Horford and Jrue Holiday. After the play, the 7-foot center was visibly hunched over, clutching his left hand in pain.
“It is what it is,” Towns said. “I just want to do whatever I can to be out there.”
Later in the game, after outmuscling Luke Kornet for a rebound, the ESPN broadcast captured Towns telling teammates, “I think I broke it”, again clutching his left hand, suggesting he believed the injury might be severe, or possibly even a fracture.
Then early in the third quarter, while posting up on the low block, Towns grimaced under the rim after Holiday swiped at the ball, drawing a foul.
“It’s the playoffs,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “People are going to get hit and you have to play through things.”
The Knicks provided no official diagnosis for Towns’ injury during Game 3. He battled through to the fourth quarter, finishing with 21 points on 5-for-18 shooting with 15 rebounds in 36 minutes.
Towns declined to say whether he underwent an MRI.
“That’s why you do it the entire season,” Thibodeau said. “No one’s playing 100 percent. You have to understand that you can play well when you’re feeling less than your best, that’s all part of it. I think the mental toughness part of this in the playoffs is huge.”
In a January game against the Detroit Pistons, Towns injured his right thumb, seemingly jamming it into the backboard during a first-quarter dunk attempt. As in Saturday’s game, he played through evident pain. He avoided discussing the injury afterward.
Though Towns missed only one game, his performance dipped over his next nine appearances, averaging 18.1 points while shooting 44.4% from the field and 30% from 3-point range.
“I’m going to keep finding ways to play, so I’m not tripping,” Towns said.
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