SAN ANTONIO — There was nobody left to impress. The fans were already gone, bound for their trains and the nearby parking garages. His teammates were already showered and dressed. There were a few Madison Square Garden workers beginning to assemble, on the clock to convert the Garden from basketball arena to hockey rink.
And here came Karl-Anthony Towns.
He still had his uniform on, the jersey bloused outside the shorts. He wore a forlorn demeanor and he cradled a basketball with his left arm. This was the night of Nov. 13, 2024, Towns’ 11th game as a member of the Knicks, and it had been a keeper: 46 points, 18-for-30 from the floor, 6-for-12 from 3, 10 rebounds.
Mostly by himself he’d dragged the Knicks back from — tell me if you’ve heard this one before — a 22-point deficit late in the third quarter, and it took them about eight minutes to take the lead. But late in the game, up a point, KAT was fouled. He missed the first. He missed the second. The Bulls won the game, 124-123. A lot of things accounted for that one-point loss.
