Karl-Anthony Towns very nearly crafted his perfect New York moment. As exceptionally as he has played offensively in his debut season as a Knick, New Yorkers prize grit above all else. Towns showed plenty of it on Wednesday. His Knicks fell behind the Chicago Bulls by as many as 22 points in the third quarter, but his 46-point effort dragged the Knicks back into the game and into the lead.
Towns, who went 18 of 30 from the field and added 10 rebounds, banged knees with Zach LaVine in the final minute, but gutted through the pain. When Jalen Brunson put the Knicks ahead 121-119 with 4.1 seconds to play, it looked like Towns would leave Madison Square Garden with the signature win of his young Knicks career.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. With three seconds on the clock, Josh Hart fouled Coby White on a potential game-winning 3-point attempt. White calmly stepped up to the line and sank all three free throws to put the Bulls in front. The Knicks called timeout and drew up a potential winner of their own. The mid-range jumper Brunson attempted came about as close to making it through the rim without actually doing so as possible. Instead, after falling most of the way, it rimmed out and the Bulls won, 124-123.
It’s been that kind of season for the Knicks thus far. All five of their wins have come by nine points or more, but they’ve already racked up three crunch-time defeats that easily could have gone the other way.
They hung with the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers until the end of a 110-104 defeat that hinged on a monster performance from Darius Garland. And just as was the case on Wednesday against Chicago, a couple of careless fouls from Hart late doomed the Knicks in a 121-116 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Despite Brunson’s heroics, this has been a persistent issue for the Knicks during his tenure. They are now 41-43 in regular-season clutch games since signing him.
For now, the Knicks are very much still in the “figuring things out” portion of the Towns era after he was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves in September.
Towns’ limitations as a rim protector helped the Bulls build their early lead, and New York’s inconsistent perimeter defense helped them stay in the game late as he dominated offensively. The Knicks are fortunate that fellow supposed Eastern Conference contenders Milwaukee and Philadelphia have also struggled to open the season. The 13-0 Cavaliers and 10-3 Celtics may quickly be separating themselves from the pack in the East, but at 5-6, the Knicks are only one game behind the No. 3 seed Orlando Magic.
There’s plenty of time for the Knicks to get it together, but losses like Wednesday’s certainly don’t help.
