Karl-Anthony Towns' worst big-game habits rear ugly head as Knicks get eliminated by Hawks in NBA Cup

The Karl-Anthony Towns trade, by and large, has been a success for the New York Knicks thus far. He's scoring more points than he has in any season since the 2019-20 campaign and posting new career-highs in rebounding and just about every shooting efficiency category. The Knicks entered Wednesday's contest against the Atlanta Hawks with a 15-9 record and the NBA's No. 1 ranked offense. Not a bad start for a team figuring out its identity on the fly.

But that game against the Hawks on Wednesday was no ordinary regular-season contest. It was an NBA Cup quarterfinal. The winner would advance to Las Vegas to face the Milwaukee Bucks. The version of Towns that the Knicks have largely gotten all season might have been enough to power them through Atlanta. That was not the player they got on Wednesday.

No, the Towns New York got on Wednesday was the player Minnesota was willing to trade, the one with a litany of bad habits that tend to pop up in the biggest moments. The scoring line was relatively innocuous: 19 points on 2-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Not great, not terrible, but Towns let the way he was officiated affect him. He played frustrated, racking up four turnovers and getting into foul trouble himself as he so often has in the playoffs. His defense, the one weakness in his otherwise sterling start to the season, was nearly absent. 

Atlanta scored 66 points in the paint on Wednesday, nearly 20 more than the Knicks allow per game on average. There were obvious positives. He pulled in 19 rebounds and dished out five assists. But those fouls and deflating turnovers were part of what lost the Knicks this game.

Fouling has been a persistent big-game issue for Towns. He's fouled at least four times in more than half of his career playoff games (18 of 32) and fouled out of three of them. That doesn't include a 2022 Play-In Tournament game in which he fouled out in 24 minutes, and his teammates bailed him out by winning the rest of the game by 19 points. He was far better from a turnover perspective last spring, but averaged 3.6 turnovers per game in his first three trips to the postseason.

Mistakes like these are critical in big-game settings, when teams are locked in and gameplans are more thorough than usual. Opponents have been able to get under Towns' skin in the past. It affected the Knicks as a whole on Wednesday. They spent much of the second half playing listless, unorganized basketball. Towns wasn't wholly responsible for that, but he didn't help, either.

The Knicks won't weep over a missed trip to Vegas. Josh Hart might be missing out on a new watch, but the trophy this team is fighting for is awarded in June, not December. But the NBA Cup would have been a nice proving ground for a team that is very much still finding itself. 

Such a new group certainly could have used games in a playoff atmosphere for a few extra reps. Wednesday was the closest the Knicks have come to that this season, and they disappointed across the board. If the Knicks are going to compete for the trophy that matters in June, they're going to need the version of Towns they've had most of this season, not the inconsistent one that keeps popping up in the worst possible moments.

Karl-Anthony Towns' worst big-game habits rear ugly head as Knicks get eliminated by Hawks in NBA Cup

Karl-Anthony Towns' worst big-game habits rear ugly head as Knicks get eliminated by Hawks in NBA Cup

Karl-Anthony Towns' worst big-game habits rear ugly head as Knicks get eliminated by Hawks in NBA Cup

Karl-Anthony Towns' worst big-game habits rear ugly head as Knicks get eliminated by Hawks in NBA Cup

Karl-Anthony Towns' worst big-game habits rear ugly head as Knicks get eliminated by Hawks in NBA Cup