Karl-Anthony Towns’ scoring is down, but he’s filling up the box score in other ways.
He recorded 20 rebounds in the Knicks’ 127-97 win over the Trail Blazers on Friday night at Madison Square Garden — six on the offensive glass.
Across his last two games, Towns has a whopping 42 rebounds — 13 of them offensive.
“To me, that’s what great players do,” coach Mike Brown said. “They impact the game in a lot of different ways. For him to have 22 [rebounds] against Toronto and 20 tonight, double-double, that was huge because six of those were offensive rebounds and we beat them [in second chance points], and they’re a very, very, very good offensive rebounding team.”
Towns’ scoring production and efficiency are down across the board this year compared to last year. He’s been benched at the ends of games at times recently.
He’s constantly in foul trouble.
But he continues to dominate the glass. He also made a point to look for quick outlets after rebounds, getting the Knicks going in transition.
“The rebounding, what he’s been doing these past couple of games has been great,” Jalen Brunson said. “We need that from him, that’s what he brings to the table. Offensively, when the ball’s not going in as much as it should be, he finds a way to impact the game. I think that’s really important for us. Big-time performance for him.”
The Knicks were again without Miles McBride on Friday. He missed his second straight game.
They have listed it as left ankle injury management. Brown said it’s just precaution after McBride missed eight games with a left ankle sprain earlier in the season.
He is averaging 12.9 points per game this year on 43.4 percent shooting from the field and 42.0 percent shooting from 3-point range.
That type of load management under Brown this year is a departure from Tom Thibodeau.
It has been most apparent with Mitchell Robinson, who has sat 14 games this year for load management. Brunson, Josh Hart, Towns and OG Anunoby have missed games for load management as well.
Jordan Clarkson was the only active Knick to not enter the game.
Brunson eclipsed 10,000 points on Friday.
Dillon Jones, whom the Knicks signed to a two-way contract on Jan. 20, was available on Friday for the first time. He began his Knicks tenure in the G-League.
He played the final four minutes and hit a 3-pointer.