The New York Knicks are hitting a rough patch-and not the kind that can be smoothed over with a quick lineup tweak or a hot shooting night. They've dropped four straight and eight of their last ten, sliding down to third in the Eastern Conference. The heat is rising in the kitchen, and once again, Karl-Anthony Towns is feeling the burn.
Towns is catching flak for questionable shot selection, but the issues in New York go well beyond one player's decision-making. This isn’t just about who’s taking what shots-it’s about a defensive structure that’s starting to buckle under pressure.
Here’s the crux of the problem: the Knicks' wing defenders-Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby-are being asked to do too much. These are elite two-way players, guys who can lock down the perimeter and still give you buckets.
But they’re being stretched thin, constantly covering for breakdowns at both the point of attack and in the paint. It’s one thing to mask a single defensive liability.
It’s another to be the band-aid for multiple leaks every night.
And when those same wings are also expected to take a backseat offensively? That’s where frustration starts to creep in.
Bridges and Anunoby are All-Star caliber talents in their own right. They’ve accepted deferring to Jalen Brunson-he’s the franchise cornerstone, after all.
But deferring to Towns, especially when the defensive effort doesn’t match the offensive output, is a tougher pill to swallow.
What’s interesting is that the data doesn’t fully support the narrative that Towns is the defensive anchor dragging the team down. In fact, when you isolate the minutes with Brunson on the floor, the Knicks are giving up more points-not because Brunson isn’t producing offensively (he is), but because his defensive shortcomings are putting stress on the rest of the unit. The ripple effects are real, and they’re showing up in the film and the box score.
Still, Brunson isn’t going anywhere. He’s the face of the franchise, the engine of the offense, and organizationally untouchable.
That leaves Towns as the odd man out-not necessarily because he’s the biggest problem, but because he’s the most movable piece in a flawed equation. The Towns-Brunson pairing isn’t clicking, and while Towns is taking the brunt of the criticism, the root issue is more complex.
So now the Knicks are staring down a tough truth: the current roster configuration isn’t working. The obvious fix-rebalancing the defensive load and offensive hierarchy-might not be possible without shaking up the core. And unless something changes fast, Towns is going to continue wearing the blame, fair or not.
Next up, the Knicks face the Brooklyn Nets. It’s a chance to reset, but make no mistake-the pressure is on.
This isn’t just about snapping a losing streak. It’s about figuring out who they are before the season slips away from them.