Barbara Barker: The Karl-Anthony Towns-Mike Brown joint decision that changed the Knicks' season
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns reacts of Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Credit: AP/Yuki Iwamura
GREENBURGH — The moment that changed the direction of the Knicks’ postseason didn’t happen on the basketball court, nor did it take place during a coaches-only strategy session.
Rather, it all came down to a conversation between Karl-Anthony Towns and coach Mike Brown after a demoralizing one-point loss to the Hawks that put the Knicks behind 2-1 in their first-round playoff series.
The way Towns tells it, the idea to start running the offense through him was his.
“You go in there and say how you feel, what you feel is your idea, and see if it’s received,” Towns said when asked Friday how the change that supercharged the Knicks’ offense came about. “And it was received.”
Received and implemented with stunning success.
The Knicks are 7-0 since Towns stepped in as the lead facilitator, handling the ball in the high post, low post and off drives.
The Knicks’ average margin of victory in those seven games is a staggering 26.4 points. They have produced a through-the-roof 130.5 offensive rating per 100 possessions in those games. They became the fourth team in NBA history with multiple series-clinching wins by at least 30 points (51 points against the Hawks, 30 points against the 76ers) in the same postseason, joining the 2025 Thunder, 2008 Celtics and 1987 Lakers, who all won titles.
Towns always has been considered a decent passer, but he averaged only 3.0 assists per game in the regular season and 3.3 in the first three playoff games. Since then, he is averaging 8.0 assists along with 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds despite playing only 26.3 minutes per game because of foul trouble and the blowout nature of some of the wins.
Brown takes pride in having an open-door policy and being a collaborator, and he deserves major kudos for making such a bold change in the middle of the playoffs. Whether Towns’ suggestion pushed him to make the change or if the change already was something being considered wasn’t made completely clear when Brown was asked about it after practice on Friday.
“I take suggestions from everybody. At the end of the day, it’s up for me to make the decision of yea or nay,” Brown said. “The tough part of it is sometimes when you have suggestions — and there are a lot of good ones out there — [is] trying to put the suggestion into something that can be real for the group and fit the group.”
It is hard to believe that this was the first time this season that Towns asked for a different role in the offense. More than any other Knicks player, he struggled during the regular season to adjust to the fast-paced offense being implemented by Brown. Towns’ average of 20.1 points in the regular season was his lowest since he averaged 18.3 his rookie year in 2015-16, and he repeatedly made it clear that he was struggling to adapt to what Brown wanted from him.
Could Brown have been more open to listening this time considering that the Knicks were down 2-1 in the series?
“I always listen. Or always hear,” Brown said. “You can’t act upon everything. Because if you act upon everything, you’re going to be driving yourself crazy and everyone else crazy. It’s something where we were struggling to score and I had been thinking about it for a while and it finally came to me at that point.”
In the end, it really doesn’t matter whose idea it was to change up the offense. What does matter is that it happened, the Knicks found a way to quickly get everyone to buy into it and, well, it works.
“He’s done a great job of adjusting our team and giving us the best chance to win,” Towns said when asked what he’s learned about his coach. “The spot we’re in right now is because of his courage and trust to change what we’ve been doing and put us in a better position . . . I’ve always loved this role and wanted this role. So I’m just happy we got to this point.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
