How Karl-Anthony Towns is punishing the Celtics, even without the use of his greatest weapon

Hear the name Karl-Anthony Towns and one thing likely comes to mind: 3-point shooting. The 7-footer caught a lot of flak a few years ago for brazenly proclaiming himself “the greatest big man shooter of all time,” but guess what? Apologies to Dirk Nowitzki, but KAT’s claim is pretty much unassailable at this point.

Only six times in NBA history has a player averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for a full season on 50/40/80 shooting splits. Three of those belong to Towns. The Kentucky product is the poster child for the modern NBA big man, shooting a pristine 40% from 3-point range on over four attempts per game during his 10-year career.

So, when you say that Towns has been hurting the Boston Celtics as the New York Knicks have opened a commanding 2-0 series lead thanks to two improbable comebacks, you’d be excused for thinking that he’s probably been lights out from beyond the arc.

Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth.

In two conference semifinal games against Boston thus far — Game 3 is Saturday afternoon at MSG — Towns has yet to make a 3-pointer. Even more shocking, he’s only taken two long-distance attempts. That’s right, the greatest shooting big man of all time isn’t even really shooting — at least not from 3-point range.

It’s a testament to his underrated versatility that Towns is still significantly impacting the series, and he’s doing it in multiple ways.

Post-ups

With Jalen Brunson as the engine of the offense, Towns doesn’t get a ton of opportunities to showcase his post game. During the regular season, he was solid, landing in the 54th percentile in efficiency, per Synergy Sports. In the playoffs, however, that has ballooned to the 94th percentile as he’s gone 14-for-27 from the field in post-up situations. This is especially valuable as Boston occasionally throws smaller defenders on Towns. Watch here as he posts up Jaylen Brown, essentially ignoring the double-team from Jrue Holiday, knowing he can just turn and shoot over the top.

Towns also knows that the 6-6 Brown won’t be able to come close to contesting his jumper (even though he doesn’t really jump), so he has the freedom and confidence to take shots that look incredibly difficult for most humans, but are actually like layups for him.

And it’s not just smaller players that Towns has taken advantage of. He’s absolutely punished Al Horford — one of the strongest and cagiest post defenders in the league — on multiple occasions. After the Knicks fell behind big early in Game 2, Towns powered his way into the lane against Horford to earn an and-one on a jump hook.

It worked so well that Towns basically made a carbon copy on the very next play, cutting Boston’s lead nearly in half on two possessions.

The Celtics have so many bodies to throw at Brunson that he simply cannot carry the scoring load on his own. Posting up Towns is a source of uncomplicated offense that New York has utilized occasionally so far in this series.

Drives

If the Celtics are going to sell out on Towns’ 3-pointers, he has to be able to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. While not the smoothest driver, Towns has shown that he can be effective in that area, especially when he has a big man on him. Watch here as Horford gets into Towns’ jersey behind the arc, leaving him no space to get a shot off. Towns makes a quick, decisive move to his left that results in an easy layup.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau talked about Towns’ offensive versatility during their opening-round series win over the Detroit Pistons.

“He has tremendous confidence and he has amazing touch,” Thibodeau said. “He shoots the ball like a guard, and he’s got unlimited range. He can score off the dribble, he can score back to the basket, he can score a lot of different ways.”

Towns has been known to be a bit turnover-prone, so nobody on the Knicks wants him dribbling all over the court. But if he makes moves like that one — straight line drives with little hesitation — he can continue to make Boston pay for defending him so tightly on the perimeter.

Defense

Most skepticism about the Knicks’ title contention revolved around Towns’ subpar rim protection. With him as the sole big man on the floor, the thinking went, they’ll have no ability to stop the elite scorers they would face in the Eastern Conference playoffs — from Cade Cunningham to Jayson Tatum to, potentially, Donovan Mitchell or Tyrese Haliburton. Well, so far in the playoffs, Towns has been no pushover.

During the regular season, Towns landed in just the 19th percentile in defense at the rim, allowing 1.16 points per shot, according to Synergy Sports. So far in the postseason, that’s jumped to the 58th percentile, dropping to 0.96 points per shot. Look, he’s never going to be Rudy Gobert, but if Towns is just competent as a rim protector, it completely changes this Knicks defense.

He’s also been solid in isolation defense against Boston. Yes, foul trouble is usually an issue, but Towns has done a decent job sliding his feet and showing his hands to the refs on drives from the likes of Tatum and Brown, using his massive frame to push them off their line to the rim.

Towns’ relative quickness for a big man has also allowed Thibodeau to lean further into the strategy of pairing him and Mitchell Robinson together. So far in 55 minutes during the playoffs, the Towns-Robinson combo has been devastating with a plus-14 net rating, allowing a frugal 84 points per 100 possessions. Against the Celtics, those numbers become downright laughable (plus-67 net rating in 15 minutes). Not only does the duo cause a clogged lane for potential Boston penetrators, but it also forces Joe Mazzulla to make matchup decisions that can leave players like Brown, Holiday or Derrick White on an island against Towns.

Robinson was so effective in Game 2 that Mazzulla chose to intentionally foul him to get him out of the game. The Knicks brought in OG Anunoby for Robinson at the 2:41 mark and proceeded to outscore Boston, 9-4, down the stretch to close out the win.

Rebounding

It goes without saying that Towns has been a terrific rebounder since putting on a Knicks uniform. His 12.8 boards per game were second only to Domantas Sabonis during the regular season, and that’s fallen off only slightly to 11.3 per game in the postseason. But where Towns is really making waves against Boston is on the offensive glass.

During the opening-round series against the Pistons, Towns collected seven total offensive rebounds in six games. In the two games against Boston, he’s already equaled that. Crashing the offensive glass was a big part of the Knicks’ identity last season, but it largely disappeared after New York’s offseason roster revamp as they went from first in offensive rebounds per game in 2023-24 to 19th this season.

Along with Robinson and Josh Hart, Towns is a big reason why that identity appears to be resurfacing against the Celtics. A number of Towns’ o-boards have come from him simply being bigger than the person in front of him. But he’s also shown more willingness to crash from the perimeter, which creates opportunities like this one from the fourth quarter of Game 1.

“Just the way he’s been throughout the entire season, he’s been one of the best teammates we have,” Brunson said of Towns. “The way he gives us energy, and the way he goes and gets rebounds, and what he does. That doesn’t go unnoticed, and that’s just the way he’s been.”

Can he keep it up?

The Knicks are clearly in the driver’s seat of this series, but nobody is counting out the defending champs — in fact, the Celtics are still favored to not only win the series, but also win the Eastern Conference. If New York is going to pull off the upset, it’s going to need the Towns who’s shown up for the first couple of games. He’s proven that he’s capable of impacting a series even without the use of his greatest weapon — the 3-point shot — but he also has a history of disappearing and/or imploding during big playoff moments.

Towns went a long way toward repairing his postseason reputation during last year’s conference finals run with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and playing well in a series win over the Celtics could help boost his standing amongst the NBA’s elite stars.

“We can’t keep doing these 20-point leads for Boston, and hope to come back and win the game,” Towns said after Game 2. “We’ve gotta play better, we’ve gotta shoot better, we’ve gotta execute better. We can’t start having that kind of Knicks basketball being played when we’re down 20. We’ve got to start the game that way and finish the game that way, 48 minutes.”