{"id":531093,"date":"2026-01-12T05:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531093\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T05:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:59:13","slug":"mike-brown-opts-for-other-knicks-hot-hands-over-karl-anthony-towns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531093\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown opts for other Knicks’ hot hands over Karl-Anthony Towns"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 The Knicks closed out their victory with an All-Star on the bench.<\/p>\n

Karl-Anthony Towns was subbed out with 9:24 remaining and watched the rest of Sunday\u2019s 123-114 win over the Blazers<\/a> from a seat, with coach Mike Brown explaining afterward that he was rolling with hot hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe normally do [close with Towns]. On the minutes sheet, he\u2019s there [to play down the stretch],\u201d Brown said. \u201cBut we strung a lot of stops together. And we were getting out and going. And I will do this \u2014 if I think a group is rolling, I\u2019ll keep a group out there. As long as it doesn\u2019t impact a guy\u2019s minutes drastically. And that group was rolling and I kept them out there because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks won those final 9 \u00bd minutes without Towns, 31-20. Brown either used Mitchell Robinson at center or went with a small lineup, with Miles McBride playing with the four other starters (Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges).<\/p>\n

\"Karl-AnthonyKarl-Anthony Towns reacts after a basket against the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Portland, Ore. AP<\/p>\n

Towns finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes.<\/p>\n

A day earlier, Brown reiterated that the onus is on him and the struggling center to make it work. Their partnership has been uneasy, with Towns consistently citing the challenges of adapting to the coach\u2019s system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this before: It\u2019s not all on KAT to adjust to and adapt to what we have to do,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe\u2019s had the hardest adjustment period because he\u2019s had to learn the most. In the same breath, I have to make sure that I help him by simplifying what we do and making sure I\u2019m putting him in the right spots and then he\u2019s got to do the things necessary to help out, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Karl-AnthonyKarl-Anthony Towns, right, drives to the basket as Portland Trail Blazers center\/forward Robert Williams III, left, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Portland, Ore. AP<\/p>\n

Brown was giddy about the 49ers beating the Eagles in an NFC wild-card game Sunday. His son Cameron is a coach on San Francisco\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, Niners fans, congrats. Big win on the road in Philly,\u201d Brown said in his postgame news conference. \u201cMy parents are from Philly, but my son\u2019s with the Niners, so I\u2019m red, red, red, red, through and through. So let\u2019s go Niners. Let\u2019s go, baby!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A few prominent Knicks players probably don\u2019t feel the same way. Brunson, Towns and McBride are all Eagles fans.<\/p>\n

Tyler Kolek became the latest youngster squeezed from the rotation, logging zero minutes after the return of Hart, who missed the previous eight games because of a sprained ankle. It was Kolek\u2019s first DNP since Nov. 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 The Knicks closed out their victory with an All-Star on the bench. Karl-Anthony Towns was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,563,3357,6,191,3027,687,471,3967,66,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-531093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","11":"tag-mike-brown","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-ny-sports-minute","15":"tag-portland","16":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","17":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115880602771161628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}