The Spurs have a “serious problem” if Karl-Anthony Towns can build on his Game 1 dominance for the rest of the NBA Finals.
ESPN star and NBA champion Kendrick Perkins lauded the Knicks’ center for his outing on Wednesday night and declared that he “exposed” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.
“Imma tell the Spurs fans this, y’all got a problem…y’all have a serious problem,” Perkins said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.”
Towns’ dominant performance saw the big man post 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in New York’s 105-95 win — but his contributions went far beyond the offensive side.
Wembanyama, who finished third in NBA MVP voting, was kept to a pedestrian 26 points on 6-of-21 shooting, including an abysmal 2-for-12 mark with Towns as the primary defender.
The 7-foot-4 phenom also committed four of his six turnovers with Towns covering him.
“The Defensive Player of the Year got exposed last night,” Perkins said. “‘Imma say this. Yes, Towns played the best defensive game of his life last night, but offensively, he showed the world that Wemby can’t guard him. He is a matchup problem for the Spurs.
“The way his ability to stretch the floor, and then he showed his versatility by his ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. He was going through Wemby’s chest. He wasn’t shying away from physicality. And when they decided to put a smaller player on him, guess what the Knicks did? They searched him out. Here we go, go to you. And when Wemby came to double, he was dropping no-looks, he was dropping passes, he was finding shooters.
Towns was instrumental in the Knicks’ 14-point comeback win, including a monster third quarter where he notched 10 points and four rebounds — while also hyping up his teammates.
Knicks coach Mike Brown praised Towns’ versatility after the thrilling victory.
“He’s a problem. You put a small guy on him, he’s got a chance to offensive rebound. You put a big guy on him, he’s got a chance to pick-and-pop and go around guys,” Brown said.
“We have to just keep trying to move him around based on who is guarding him throughout the course of the ballgame, but he was huge for us with his double-double.”
