What we’re hearing about Karl-Anthony Towns’ NBA Finals play impacting Knicks, Giannis

NEW YORK — Sir Isaac Newton would like a word about these NBA Finals.

In a postmortem sort of way, of course.

Since the famed polymath taught us 340 years ago how “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” and this storied New York Knicks franchise that hasn’t won it all in about that long finds itself up 2-0 against San Antonio, it’s time to explore what it might mean if this gritty group shocks the basketball world by finishing the job.

The reaction, in many forms, would be quite epic.

The chaos and sheer bliss that would be unleashed on the streets of the United States’ biggest city are a given, what with the 53-year drought between titles and all (it would be the Knicks’ third ever). As we saw in those first two games, when Knicks fans descended on San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center as if it was their own, this fanbase rolls deep and can be quite dominant in its own right. Much like their favorite team — the one that has now won 13 consecutive playoff games during this historic, and unexpected, run.

But today’s more specific focus is the reputational stakes for the Knicks’ most divisive talent: Karl-Anthony Towns. Of all the players who entered this postseason with something to prove, Towns might have topped the list.

It has been less than two years since the stunning trade that brought him here from Minnesota, when his reward for helping the Timberwolves reach the West finals for the first time in two decades was to get sent to New York in the three-team deal in which Julius Randle, in essence, took his old job. More importantly, for the purposes of this discussion, it has only been nine months since Giannis Antetokounmpo’s interest in playing for the Knicks created even more job insecurity for Towns.

While talks between Milwaukee and New York never gained traction, no one could blame Towns for wondering if history might repeat itself after the Knicks, much like the Timberwolves before them, reached the conference finals for the first time in 25 years last season. Especially considering the Knicks decided not to give him a contract extension around that same time.

Fast forward to mid-January, when the Knicks lost nine games in 13 tries and Towns was clearly struggling to thrive in first-year coach Mike Brown’s system, and the questions remained about whether the 30-year-old, six-time All-Star was the right big man for this Knicks post. But Towns has spent these past seven weeks changing the narrative that surrounded him for so long, playing with the kind of tough, selfless and whatever-it-takes, two-way style that has pushed these Knicks to the brink of something special. And the league-wide chatter about Antetokounmpo coming the Knicks’ way, it’s safe to say, has certainly died down as a result.

Along the way, with Towns leading the Knicks in playoff plus-minus while averaging 17.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists in the playoffs, it has become quite evident that he deserves the kind of respect that some of his peers have been loath to give over the years (from Jimmy Butler on down the line). His defense against Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama in this series’ first two games should be enough to reshape how he’s viewed. That this revelatory showing comes after Randle struggled so mightily to contain Wemby in the Spurs’ second-round win over Minnesota, meanwhile, surely makes it all that much sweeter for Towns. (Conversely, what might Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards be thinking as he ponders the what-if of it all right about now?)

To hear Brown discuss Towns after Game 2 was to realize how far their relationship has come. The creative tension between them was no secret earlier this season, but Brown offered a blow-by-blow account of a process that has clearly put the Knicks in a much healthier, and more dangerous, place. Brown has a tendency to be a little long-winded, but this is worth the “listen” for anyone who is curious how they’re managing to pull this craziness off.

“I came in with a great plan,” Brown said when asked about Towns’ evolution. “Maybe the plan doesn’t work. Who adjusts: Him or me? Me. I adjust. (But) the adjustment’s not enough. Every once in a while, we’re not on the same page. We talk about it. We talk about it. I adjust again. A little bit better. He’s feeling good. We talk about it. We talk — maybe we take a couple of steps backwards because what I did, he doesn’t like, which is fine.

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“It’s my job as a coach to fit whatever scheme we have on both sides of the floor to all of our players. And if you’re a great player, I’ve got to make a little bit more adjustments, or I’ve got to give a little bit more than you do. We finally got to a point where he was comfortable, (where) I was comfortable, Jalen (Brunson) was comfortable, OG (Anunoby) was comfortable, Mikal (Bridges) was comfortable. And to me, that’s what the regular season is about. The regular season is about finding your way so you can prepare for this time of the year … So, when we get here, anything we run into, we’ve already conquered during the regular season, and we’ll know how to handle it.”

If the Knicks do, in fact, tie the bow on this NBA Finals package, there will still be a discussion to be had with Towns about securing his services for the long-term. He has one guaranteed season left on his current deal, with a player option worth $61 million for the 2027-28 campaign, and is eligible for a massive extension (four years and a combined $272 million).

The reality of today’s NBA means there are second-apron concerns for the Knicks to take into consideration, and a desire to be prudent enough with the payroll so as not to compromise roster depth. But the tone of those talks, given everything Towns has done here, should be far more flattering toward him this time around. He deserves immense credit for that much.

As a final disclaimer here, anyone who deems this Knicks title talk premature should consider this: Since 1984, teams that took the first two games of a seven-game series on the road are 27-4. RIP to my social media mentions if they should somehow manage to blow it, but it’s a risk I was willing to take.

Adam Silver defends 65-game rule

This flew under the radar amid all the Knicks-inspired noise, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed his counterintuitive, data-based view of the load management debate while speaking with a small group of reporters on Thursday.

Silver had already reiterated his support for the controversial 65-game rule during his annual pre-finals press conference the day before, stating flatly that he thinks it’s working while making it clear that it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The National Basketball Players Association called for the rule to be “abolished or reformed” in late March, when it became clear that a number of high-profile players would be ruled ineligible to receive regular season awards.

But it was the more nuanced part of Silver’s perspective on the player participation policy, shared in a more informal setting at the Denver Heights Community Center where the league’s NBA Cares event took place, that might raise eyebrows among those who believe players are in desperate need of a lighter workload.

“Our star participation was up, actually, significantly this year,” Silver began. “Taking injuries out (of the equation), with so-called load management or one-day absences (being the focus), we’re down 30 percent this year. …(Players) don’t want to disappoint the fans.”

As Silver detailed even further, the league’s internal data suggests that extended rest might be part of the problem rather than the solution.

“On so-called load management, I think that the only place where we see an uptick in injuries is not towards the end of the season when guys have played more games,” Silver continued. “The only place we see upticks is after the All-Star break. … Whether it’s just correlation, or it turns out there’s causation, it may be because (players) are not getting appropriate load during those days they take off.

“I think this is an area where (artificial intelligence) will help us. (AI) is in all medical research, where you can aggregate enormous amounts of data to see better trends.”

Yet the part that he didn’t discuss, and which has been such a focal point for those who believe the league should either shrink its schedule or perhaps even shorten games, is that the pace-and-space element of today’s NBA is putting players in harm’s way more than ever before. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been as vocal as anyone on the issue, advocating for the regular-season schedule to have 10 fewer games while expressing concern about the recent rash of lower-body injuries.

“The pace difference is dramatic,” Kerr said in November. “Across the league, everybody understands now that it’s just easier to score if you can beat the opponent down the floor and get out and transition. But when everybody’s doing that, the games are much faster-paced. And then everyone has to cover out to 25 feet because everybody can shoot 3s.”

But Silver and the experts he has tracking this issue, from the sound of it, simply don’t see it that way.

Jalen Brunson and the great (small) point guard debate

Speaking of Knicks who might change how they’re perceived, Brunson is breaking through the small-point-guard barrier that has long been a topic of great debate in the Association. The question, one which Las Vegas Aces head coach (and former Spurs assistant) Becky Hammon took head on during her time as an ESPN analyst in Dec. of 2023 and doubled down on recently, is whether having a big point guard is a prerequisite for championship teams (with players such as Isiah Thomas and Steph Curry the rare exceptions).

“Nah, he too small,” Hammon, the 5-foot-6 Hall of Famer who did not win a title in her illustrious playing career, famously said back then of the 6-foot-2 Brunson.

Quite fittingly, Brunson’s Knicks took the first two games of these NBA Finals with Hammon’s retired San Antonio Silver Stars jersey — wait for it — looking down on him from the Frost Bank Center rafters.

Even with the 2-0 series lead, the scary part for the Spurs is that Brunson hasn’t played all that well just yet. His 13-point fourth quarter in Game 1 was the stuff of legend, but Brunson’s overall performance — 12-of-31 shooting with four turnovers and just two assists — was subpar by his lofty standards. He was even worse for most of Game 2, missing 18 of 25 shots in all with four turnovers and a minus-10 rating. To be fair, he still found a way to be “Captain Clutch” at the end. Brunson’s 19-footer with 39 seconds left tied it at 104-104, and he scooped up the Wembanyama turnover with 10 seconds left that ultimately decided it when he hit one of the two ensuing free throws after he was fouled.

But the counting stats make you think he’s due for a breakout game. Brunson is shooting just 33.9 percent overall and 23.5 percent from 3 so far in this series, averaging as many assists as turnovers (four per game). And the Knicks, who so many of us thought had only a puncher’s chance of being here all season long, are still in pole position to pull off the improbable.

To wit: The great John Hollinger had them as a ‘Tier 4’ title contender in early March: “The Dangerous,” as he called that group which also included Cleveland and Minnesota. I wrote a piece not long before that in which I ranked them eighth among the eight teams that, in my view, had some sort of chance to win it all.

Next to no one outside of that locker room saw that coming.

“Things take time,” said Brunson, who often repeats the key points in his messaging just like Brown, after Game 2. “We knew that we just had to get better every single day — every single day. In the world we live in now, everyone wants things instantly. So from our perspective, it’s all about just getting better every single day, keep chipping away, keep chipping away, being one percent better.

“When you take steps back, how can you improve? It’s always about, ‘How can you improve? How can you improve?’ Having that mentality and focus and approach, I think, allows us to still be students of the game and still find ways to learn, even through wins. And I think we need to continue to do that.”

If they do, Gotham City mayhem will ensue.