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Knicks' Tom Thibodeau Defends Karl-Anthony Towns Injury Decision

Karl-Anthony Towns briefly left the New York Knicks' latest heartbreaker in the fourth quarter.

Geoff Magliocchetti

Feb 23, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) controls the ball while Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) defends during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
Feb 23, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) controls the ball while Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) defends during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images / Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
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Sunday was a painful experience for the New York Knicks, both mentally and physically.

Things were dire enough for New York, which once again struggled to hold a candle to the defending champion Boston Celtics. Sunday's 118-105 decision dropped them to 0-7 against the leading squads of the NBA (Boston, Cleveland, Oklahoma City) and their first instance of consecutive lost games since Jan. 3-6.

A tense afternoon became downright horrifying when Karl-Anthony Towns limped to TD Garden's visitors' bench as Boston began its final push forward to victory. Towns appeared to endure a lower-body ailment on a drive for a double and was noticeably limping as he made his way back up the floor.

After he was attended to on the New York sideline, Towns briefly fled to the New York locker room but returned to the game for the last four-plus minutes. By then, Boston had re-established a double-figure lead: the Celtics led by as much as 27 before New York shrank the deficit to four at the onset of the final period but were back up by 18 when Towns came back in to finish things off.

In the somber aftermath, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau defended his decision to re-insert Towns into the game.

"“He said he was fine," Thibodeau offered, per James Edwards III of The Athletic.

Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News offered a little more input, mentioning that Towns declined a deeper look and that he "just decided to walk it off and check back into the game."

"We'll see how the next couple of days go," Towns said of his status, per Winfield. New York has two days off before they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night (7 p.m. ET, MSG/ESPN).

It was a rollercoaster afternoon for Towns, who has yet to partake in a win over the Celtics during his admittedly brief time in a Knicks uniform. He was held scoreless in the first period but ended the day with 24 points and 18 rebounds.

Towns had 14 points in the third period alone, one that saw the Knicks eat away at a 27-point Boston lead thanks to an eight-plus minute run that featured a 32-12 advantage on the New York score board. Towns, Jalen Brunson, and Josh Hart accounted for each of those tallies. A Towns triple created the aforementioned four-point game before Boston outscored New York 29-20 the rest of the way.

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks

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