No one has a clear-cut good answer for why Karl-Anthony Towns was benched.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said postgame he was “searching for a way to win” while attempting a late comeback. Perhaps the head coach just favored Mitchell Robinson, who nearly wrecked Friday’s Game 2 with his usual relentless rebounding. And NBA gamblers online argued that Towns, who had 20 points entering the fourth, was kept out in a scheme to deter the star from hitting the over on his point totals.
For whatever reason, Thibodeau benched Towns for six minutes and 35 seconds of the fourth quarter — beginning at the nine-minute mark — while the Knicks fell short of a comeback attempt in Friday’s 114-109 loss at Madison Square Garden.
Thibodeau preferred Robinson over the offensively-gifted Towns for a majority of the quarter. The benching rendered Towns useless as he watched his team eventually go down, 2-0, in the series to the Indiana Pacers.
“It’s tough to lose any way,” Towns said when asked about the time on the bench. “So we’ve just got to regroup together for the next one.”
The Knicks entered the fourth quarter tied then trailed by nine when Towns exited at the nine-minute mark. Before that point, Towns had success scoring in spurts against the Pacers.
TOWNS 3-BALL.
MSG ERUPTS.
High-energy action in Game 2 on TNT! pic.twitter.com/SpS7BNhpYU
— NBA (@NBA) May 24, 2025
He scored 10 points in the first six minutes of the second quarter, headlined by a contested trey over Indiana’s Myles Turner after corralling Duece McBride’s misfire.
The star big then provided five more points in as many minutes in the third quarter while the Knicks fought to keep the game within a one possession game. He eventually shot 6-of-14 from the field (2-of-5 from deep) to go along with seven rebounds in Game 2.
Then came the fourth quarter when the Knicks lost control of the game and prompted Thibodeau to move Towns to the bench. The Knicks entered the fourth tied, 81-81, and after just three minutes, trailed 94-85. Towns was subbed out for Jalen Brunson, who joined Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Robinson. That lineup stopped the bleeding, playing the Pacers even over the next six and a half minutes until Towns returned for the final 2:25.
“We got in a hole and then the group that was in there gave us a chance, so we just were riding that,” Thibodeau explained.
Towns enjoyed the same kind of scoring spurts during the Game 1 loss like he did in Game 2. The more glaring issue in Game 1 — and prior games in the 2025 postseason — was the team not having the All-Star big involved while he was on the floor. But, Towns still finished with an impressive statline in the Game 1 loss: 35 points, 12 rebounds and two assists.
You could point to some of Towns’ poor pick-and-slip defense as the reason he sat for so long in Game 2, considering Robinson played well on that side of the ball. The Pacers often seek to draw Towns on a guard in those situations to put the big in space on the perimeter.
But Towns, at times, played above his level when in space Friday, especially on Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton. Towns’ teammates are often forced to rotate or watch guards get open looks with the big forced to defend isolation one-on-one plays.
In Game 2, Towns moved his feet, stayed in front of Haliburton and forced misses on the perimeter. It contributed to Haliburton’s shaky night: 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
“We need him to be aggressive offensively. We need him to be locked in and communicate defensively,” said teammate Josh Hart. “That’s all we need from him. We need him to communicate at a high level. Offensively, be aggressive, get to his spots, get deep post position, and use his talent offensively. Defensively, be locked in, communicate at a high level and be an anchor for us.”
