Knicks Star Practices Free Throws After Historic Night

Karl-Anthony Towns scored in bunches for the New York Knicks on Wednesday night but his lack of singles stuck with him.

Towns set another personal best in scoring in a Knicks uniform again, scoring 46 points on an 18-of-30 tally from the field against the Chicago Bulls. That, however, wasn’t enough to steer New York from a dire fate, as they dropped a 124-123 decision.

With his 46, Towns is the first Knick to earn two 40-point games within the first 11 of a season in franchise history. It’s also the third-best scoring effort in the NBA this season behind the 59 Giannis Antetokounmpo also had on Wednesday as well as matching tallies of 50 for Paolo Banchero and Victor Wembanyama.

It didn’t mean a thing to Towns in the aftermath.

“I don’t care about that,” Towns bluntly declared, per Ian Begley of SNY. “If there’s no ‘W’ attached to it, it’s a bad night.”

Most of Towns’ scoring output came in the second half, which saw the Knicks (5-6) take several late leads despite trailing by as much as 22 in the latter stages of the third quarter. Towns was 12-of-19 from the field in the second half, including 3-of-7 from three-point range but cruel irony wound up defining his evening: free throws proved costly for Towns, who went 4-of-8 from the line in a game the Knicks lost by one.

After the game, MSG Network cameras caught Towns, still adorned in the Knicks’ traditional home whites, shooting free throws in an empty Madison Square Garden with assistant coach Mark Bryant.

Towns is shooting just under 84 percent from the foul line in his career and was at 87 percent with the Knicks entering Wednesday night. Wednesday’s game was his first where he shot 50 percent from the line with at least eight tries since April 2016, the end of his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“I was disappointed in that display of free-throw shooting by me,” Towns said, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. “I expect to make them all. When you look back at the game, especially when you don’t come out with a win in a tough game like this, you look at everything that you could have done in the mirror. If I make a few of those free throws, at least two or three of them, you put your team in a different position.” 

To Towns’ point, the Bulls (5-7) wound up winning the game at the charity stripe, as Coby White sank three awarded when Josh Hart fouled him on a would-be winner from deep with just over three seconds remaining.

Even if Towns wasn’t willing to revel in his highlight-worthy night, Jalen Brunson certainly was.

“Karl just did amazing,” the Knicks point guard/captain lauded in video from SNY. “The way he’s able to do it on the court, he makes it look effortless. That’s just who he is. It’s great to see it on our team now, but we’ve seen it for the last 10 years.”

Towns’ extra work was perhaps even more surprising considering he played the final moments of Wednesday’s game with a noticeable limp after making knee-to-knee contact with Zach LaVine. Nonetheless, he figures to be back in action on Friday night when the Knicks face a metropolitan civil war against the Brooklyn Nets (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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