It’s an NBA axiom that never gets old: The playoffs are all about matchups. And right now, for the Atlanta Hawks, Karl-Anthony Towns is an extremely bad matchup.
Jalen Brunson’s 39-point explosion on Tuesday deserves headlines, but on a night when New York never saw its lead fall below double digits after the first quarter, it was Towns who continued to flummox a team that had no observable solutions. KAT’s size, strength, vision, and skill were all on display. After posting a triple-double on Saturday to help even the series, Towns was dominant once again in Game 5, with 16 points, 14 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. His true shooting percentage was 83.0, and he created 15 points with his six assists.
Towns delivered a crystal-clear reminder of how singularly destructive he can be, putting to rest all the histrionics, goofy turnovers, and postgame press conference dramatics that have helped define his two-year tenure with the New York Knicks. The small Hawks have tried to slow him down with myriad different defensive coverages, but nothing has worked.
But numbers don’t account for the attention KAT is drawing on a regular basis; the Hawks' individual defenders all turn into roadkill when they guard him one-on-one:
This has been the best series of Towns's career. That’s partly because he’s getting to feast on a tiny frontcourt that has to put itself in rotation if it wants to keep him out of the paint. And it’s because Towns is being empowered by a plan of attack that leverages the menu of options his skill set creates. Depending on how he’s being guarded, Towns can pop for 3, roll to the rim, post up, face up, or spot up. What we’re seeing from New York now, though, are avenues that unlock his playmaking, too. Atlanta has stuck its two healthy bigs, Onyeka Okongwu and Mouhamed Gueye, on Towns throughout this series. But it’s also opted at times to check him with Dyson Daniels and Jonathan Kuminga, which is not novel. It allows the Hawks center to roam off Josh Hart or guard OG Anunoby while also being able to switch any two-man action with Brunson.
In this series, instead of forcing those looks, the Knicks have turned Towns into a control tower, feeding teammates passes as they cut into the open paint:
It’s another layer of New York’s offense that reinforces how potent it can be. Sometimes Towns has picked Atlanta’s defense apart. And sometimes, upon remembering he’s bigger and stronger and knows how to dribble, he’ll be a little less patient:
After watching Towns serve as an effective offensive hub the past two games, I kinda don’t get why New York didn’t lean into this sooner. Before the season started, I (boldly!) predicted that Towns would lead the Knicks in assists, functionally duplicating, in his own way, how his new head coach, Mike Brown, used Domantas Sabonis with the Sacramento Kings. That didn’t really happen. Towns’s assist rate this season was lower than his career average, and his passing numbers weren’t really affected by Brunson’s presence.
But in addition to being highly efficient all over the floor, Towns generally makes life easier for everybody else when the ball is in his hands. His gravity is a worthy tool when he’s standing on the weak side, but the level of attention he garners is amplified when he’s a more immediate threat to shoot.
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All told, Towns has straight up been one of the most valuable stars of this entire postseason. The only player who’s added more net points for his team is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Watch the Knicks roll when they opt to play through him, and it’s not that surprising. Towns has looked like a game-breaking talent against the Hawks, effortlessly getting wherever he wants against single coverage and then creating looks for everybody else when the defense overreacts. In this very small sample size of five games, New York’s offense has been excellent with him on the court and pretty bad when he sits (whether Brunson is in the game or not).
Should New York, which now leads 3-2, advance and, more likely than not, face the Boston Celtics in a rematch of last year’s statement series, Towns won’t hold the same physical advantages that he has against Atlanta. A string of post-ups against Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum would slap a permanent grin across Joe Mazzulla’s face—even if KAT occasionally gets the better of them, two points is fewer than three. But surround Towns with shooters in space, and he can put it on the deck and drive by any of Boston’s three centers. Whenever he has Neemias Queta, Nikola Vucevic [gulp], or Luka Garza [double gulp] on him, Towns can step back out on the perimeter and conduct the show, feeding teammates as they split cut their way into the stomach of Boston’s defense or come off a sneaky screen to knock down a 3:
There’s always the chance that KAT will get cold from the outside or revert back to some of the bad habits that have kept him a rung below true dominance. But when Towns is under control, making shots, and trusted to initiate plays that inject some randomness into a system that, on its worst days, can be a little hackneyed, he is even more than the center New York hoped it’d get in last year’s blockbuster trade. To put it plainly, the Knicks offense could look virtually unstoppable.
