Karl-Anthony Towns Struggles as Knicks Stumble in Sacramento
The New York Knicks are hitting a rough patch, and right now, the spotlight is squarely on Karl-Anthony Towns. With Jalen Brunson exiting early due to injury in Wednesday’s matchup against the Kings, the Knicks needed their All-Star big man to step up. Instead, they got a flat performance that symbolized the team’s broader issues in an ugly loss to a struggling Sacramento squad.
Towns finished the night with just 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting-a stat line that tells part of the story, but not the whole thing. The more telling moment came midway through the second quarter.
After an aggressive drive to the rim, Towns hit the deck and didn’t get up in time to get back on defense. He didn’t even cross half court before the Kings had already capitalized, drilling a wide-open three that swung momentum firmly in Sacramento’s favor.
It was the kind of lapse that doesn’t just show up in the box score-it shifts the tone of a game. And Knicks head coach Mike Brown didn’t mince words postgame when asked about the effort on that play.
“When you fall down, you got to get up and sprint down the floor,” Brown said. “Even if you’re the last guy down, you’ve got to be there in case there’s a long rebound.
But there was no urgency. That wasn’t the only play-we had a handful like that.
But that one stood out. It was a five-point swing.”
That sequence wasn’t just a missed opportunity-it was a microcosm of a night where the Knicks never found their footing. New York didn’t cut the deficit to single digits until garbage time, and by then, the damage was done. It was arguably their most disappointing loss of the season, not just because of the opponent, but because of the lack of fight when it mattered most.
For Towns, it’s another chapter in what’s been a frustrating season. The Knicks have dropped six of their last eight, and Towns has yet to find a consistent rhythm.
He’s too talented, too central to the team’s identity to be this quiet. When he’s on, the Knicks are a different animal-his inside-out scoring, rebounding, and ability to stretch the floor open up everything else.
But when he’s off, like he was in Sacramento, it puts too much pressure on the rest of the roster to fill the void.
With the season approaching its midpoint, the Knicks need Towns to turn things around-and fast. They wrap up their West Coast swing Thursday night against the Warriors, and that game now takes on added weight. It’s not just about getting back in the win column; it’s about Towns finding his groove and reasserting himself as the All-Star presence this team needs him to be.
The Knicks don’t need perfection. But they do need urgency. And it starts with their big man.