are up 3-2 with the series heading back to Cleveland<\/a> \u2014 or the Pistons.\u00a0<\/p>\nTowns primarily had the smaller Onyeka Okongwu guarding him in the first round and the hobbled Joel Embiid guarding him in the second round. <\/p>\n
When it wasn\u2019t Embiid, it was the past-his-prime Andre Drummond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There will be more talented defenders for Towns to deal with as the Knicks look to make their first finals appearance since 1999. <\/p>\n
The Cavaliers and Pistons present different challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s the Cavaliers, who are now favored to win their series, they have more finesse options in Evan Mobley \u2014 the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year \u2014 and Jarrett Allen. <\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns looks to pass during the Knicks\u2019 May 8 game. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
Both are lengthy and strong shot-blockers \u2014 they are second and third, respectively, in blocks per game (behind Victor Wembanyama) in the postseason. <\/p>\n
Allen is at 2.0 blocks per game, while Mobley is at 1.8.<\/p>\n
In the final regular-season matchup \u2014 an ugly 109-94 Knicks loss in February for which the Cavaliers had their current roster (with James Harden) \u2014 Towns was uninvolved in the offense. <\/p>\n
He took just five shots and only recorded two assists. <\/p>\n
He had five turnovers. <\/p>\n
Evan Mobley defends during the Cavaliers\u2019 May 11 game. AP<\/p>\n
It came at a time when Towns\u2019 usage \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 was a central storyline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what we did, we either turned the ball over or we had a tough shot,\u201d Brown said at the time regarding how to get Towns more involved. \u201cWe made some play calls [for Towns] tonight, but we didn\u2019t generate anything from the calls that we made.\u201d<\/p>\n
That feels like a completely different universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns looks to pass the ball during the Knicks\u2019 May 6 game. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n
Now, the Knicks don\u2019t have to call plays for Towns as they are running their offense through him. <\/p>\n
Their adjustment midway through the first round has been well documented \u2014 letting Towns facilitate from the elbow and having the four other players, notably Jalen Brunson, cut and set screens around him. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been the biggest factor in unlocking the best version of the Knicks offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the regular season, Towns shot just 3-for-11 from the field with three turnovers when Mobley guarded him, per the NBA\u2019s tracking stats. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When it was Allen, he went 5-for-10 with five turnovers. <\/p>\n
They did a solid job of disrupting him and limiting his impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that was in the old system, when the ball was largely in Brunson\u2019s hands and Towns had to wait for scoring opportunities. <\/p>\n
The new system should help him better handle the defense of Mobley and Allen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They are excellent shot-blockers and rim protectors, but Towns will still have a height advantage on both. His ability to see and pass over his defender at the elbows is critical to this newfound system. <\/p>\n
Towns is not asked to post up as much as he was, which allowed Mobley and Allen to use their shot-blocking acumen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jalen Duren (0) defends during the Pistons\u2019 May 5 game against the Cavaliers. Imagn Images<\/p>\n
And Mobley and Allen are wiry and not particularly strong. <\/p>\n
Two years ago in the first round, their lack of strength allowed the Knicks to torment them on the glass.<\/p>\n
Jalen Duren, if it\u2019s the Pistons, would be a whole different story. <\/p>\n
He certainly isn\u2019t finesse. <\/p>\n
He would represent the brawn side of the spectrum.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He is not the level of shot-blocker Mobley and Allen are. <\/p>\n
But he is much stronger and denser. <\/p>\n
He tries to bully opponents and make them feel his physicality. <\/p>\n
He was a first-time All-Star and the anchor of what was an imposing defense in the regular season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Duren has had a nightmarish postseason, potentially costing himself millions in the process. <\/p>\n
In Game 5, he was benched for the entirety of the fourth quarter and overtime. <\/p>\n
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Paul Reed and Isaiah Stewart, his backups, are similar in their bruising style.<\/p>\n
That physicality was a big problem for Towns and the Knicks, who lost all three regular-season matchups in decisive fashion. After the second loss, Brown said, \u201cThey kicked our behind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Towns, however, won\u2019t be asked to overpower Duren \u2014 or Stewart or Reed \u2014 in the post, like in the regular season. <\/p>\n
He will be dragging them out of their comfort zone, closer to the perimeter.<\/p>\n
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Mobley\u2019s and Allen\u2019s shot-blocking ability and Duren\u2019s strength mean they are all best in the paint. <\/p>\n
And since this Knicks offense took off, Towns has been primarily operating at the elbows and on the perimeter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll present different types of challenges from what Towns experienced in the first two rounds. <\/p>\n
They had success against Towns in the regular season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that was the old Towns. <\/p>\n
The new Towns is better positioned to win that battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s become obvious just how important that is to the Knicks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More change is awaiting Karl-Anthony Towns.\u00a0 He\u2019s already experienced significant change this postseason in his role in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,193,188,563,304,6,11,56381,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-734719","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-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","12":"tag-knicks","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-knicks","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkknicks","20":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116576669091288203","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734719","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=734719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}