Karl-Anthony Towns leads Knicks playmaking

Karl-Anthony Towns has become a primary playmaking hub for the New York Knicks since Game 4 of the first round on April 25, according to team and local media reports Friday. Mike Brown said the shift came as the Knicks adjusted how they used Towns offensively, leaning into actions Brown had previously run with Domantas Sabonis in Sacramento. The change has coincided with seven straight New York playoff wins, a franchise record, by a combined 185 points, according to The Athletic. Towns has posted 52 assists in those six games since Game 4, or 9.3 per game, after recording four assists in the first three games of the Atlanta series. ### How did Towns’ role change after the Atlanta series turned? April 25 marked the first clear jump in Towns’ passing volume. In Game 4 at Atlanta, he had 10 assists, matching his playoff career high, and the Knicks won 114-98. He added six assists in Game 5, 10 in Game 6, then six, seven and seven in the first three games of the second round against Philadelphia, according to ESPN’s game log. (sports.yahoo.com) Mike Brown told reporters Friday that the Knicks and Towns “kind of figured it out along the way,” according to the New York Daily News report carried by Yahoo Sports. Brown said Towns and Sabonis “do a lot of stuff that are similar,” describing the adjustment as part of the coaching staff’s effort to match its system to the roster in front of it. (espn.com) ### What did Brown say about the Sabonis comparison? Friday’s report tied the Knicks’ new sets for Towns to Brown’s Sacramento offense with Sabonis. Brown said a former player had shown him clips of how Towns was being used and told him the Knicks were running many of the same actions Brown had used with Sabonis, according to the Daily News report. (sports.yahoo.com) Domantas Sabonis averaged 7.8 assists per game in his first full season under Brown in Sacramento and 8.2 in his second, the report said. Brown told reporters that a coach’s job is to determine whether initial ideas “really fit the group that you have in front of you,” and that process changed over the course of the Knicks’ season. ### What do the numbers show since Game 4? (sports.yahoo.com) Karl-Anthony Towns has led the playoffs in assists per possession since Game 4 of the first round and is averaging 9.3 assists over that span, according to the Daily News report published Friday. ESPN’s postseason game log shows Towns with 56 total assists in 10 playoff games overall, meaning 52 of them came in the six games after the role change. (sports.yahoo.com) The Knicks have also received steady scoring and rebounding from Towns during the postseason. ESPN lists him at 157 points, 96 rebounds and 56 assists through 10 playoff games, while StatMuse lists his overall playoff averages at 17.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists. ### How closely has the shift tracked with New York’s winning streak? New York is 7-0 since Towns took on more of a facilitator role, Newsday reported Friday. (sports.yahoo.com) Those seven wins have come by an average margin of 26.4 points, based on the 185-point combined differential cited by The Athletic. Barbara Barker of Newsday wrote that the Knicks are undefeated since Towns moved into more of a facilitator role. (espn.com) The Athletic reported that the seven-game streak is a franchise playoff record and that New York carried it into the Eastern Conference finals after its second-round sweep. ### What has Towns said about the adjustment? (newsday.com) Karl-Anthony Towns said Friday he had wanted a larger creation role, according to the Daily News report. “I’ve always loved this role,” Towns said. “I’ve always wanted this role, so happy we got to this point.” The New York Post reported Friday that Towns said he went to the coaching staff when the Knicks trailed Atlanta 2-1 and pushed for the change. (newsday.com) That account aligns with the timing in his game log, which shows the playmaking spike beginning in Game 4 on April 25. ### What comes next for the Knicks? The Knicks have already advanced to the Eastern Conference finals after sweeping Philadelphia in the second round, according to NBA.com and ESPN playoff coverage. (sports.yahoo.com) Their next opponent was still to be determined as of Friday, with Cleveland and Detroit still active on the other side of the bracket. (nypost.com) Game 1 of the conference finals is the next milestone for Towns and Brown’s revised offense. The league schedule page and team sites are expected to post the date and matchup once the Cavaliers-Pistons series is decided. (espn.com) (nba.com)