{"id":65433,"date":"2025-05-30T05:30:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T05:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/65433\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T05:30:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T05:30:22","slug":"nba-legend-charles-barkley-throws-direct-criticism-at-karl-anthony-towns-face-after-new-york-knicks-game-5-win-against-indiana-pacers-nba-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/65433\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA legend Charles Barkley throws direct criticism at Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 face after New York Knicks\u2019 Game 5 win against Indiana Pacers | NBA News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NBACharles Barkley and Karl-Anthony Towns. Image via: Getty Images The New York Knicks aren\u2019t done yet. Behind Jalen Brunson\u2019s 32-point outburst and Karl-Anthony Towns’ gritty double-double, the Knicks staved off elimination with a 111-94 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden. But while Towns delivered on the scoreboard, his performance drew sharp criticism from Hall of Famer Charles Barkley<\/a> on national television.<\/p>\n

Charles Barkley calls out Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 foul troubles on live TV<\/p>\n

In a candid postgame segment on TNT, Charles Barkley didn\u2019t hold anything back when discussing Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 tendency to rack up avoidable fouls. Of course, it was a pattern that nearly cost the Knicks their momentum during Game 5.\u201cI gotta say something, I gotta criticize you,\u201d Barkley told Towns face-to-face. \u201cWhy do you be getting them dumb fouls? Why do you do that?\u201dTowns, who was aware of the concern, could only respond with, \u201cGod only knows.\u201dBarkley, doubling down on his point, added, \u201c’Cause, you know, when you got your fourth foul, they took out, they made a run. You gotta stop doing that.\u201dIn a rare moment of accountability, Towns replied, \u201cYou ain\u2019t wrong.\u201dAmid his foul trouble, Towns finished the night with five personal fouls, but he was a key factor in the game. He dropped 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting and secured 13 rebounds, 11 of them defensive. He also had three assists and posted a game-high +26 plus-minus, showing his overall impact despite the lapses.Yet, Towns powered through a bruised knee and continued to battle in the paint. His A-game helped New York dominate the glass and control the pace. The crowd at Madison Square Garden roared alongside the multiple high-profile celebrity appearances.Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 23 points off the bench, but it wasn\u2019t enough to close the series. Tyrese Haliburton had a devastating night, adding just 8 points alongside 6 assists and 2 rebounds. Although he didn\u2019t commit any turnovers, he had one personal foul.Also Read: Indiana Pacers vs New York Knicks (05\/29): Box score, player stats, game summary and more<\/a>With the win, the Knicks forced a Game 6 and kept their season alive. Now the series at 3-2, and the Knocks are looking to secure their spot at the finals. The Pacers must come back with dominance to survive in the next game of the conference finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charles Barkley and Karl-Anthony Towns. Image via: Getty Images The New York Knicks aren\u2019t done yet. Behind Jalen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,2001,126,288,563,304,1634,6,7401,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":{"0":"post-65433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charles-barkley","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-jalen-brunson","12":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","13":"tag-knicks","14":"tag-madison-square-garden","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-eastern-conference-finals","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-knicks","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkknicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114595143689504999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65433","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=65433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}