NEW YORK -- Something, or rather someone, has been missing in action in the fourth quarter of all three games in these NBA Finals, and that came back to bite the New York Knicks for the first time Monday night.
Karl-Anthony Towns was held scoreless for the third straight fourth quarter in Game 3, and the Knicks were finally punished for it with a loss to San Antonio. Towns' production was a catalyst for the 13-game playoff winning streak that got snapped in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd, but as had been the case during the regular season, he got lost late Monday.
It didn't matter as much in the first two games because of Jalen Brunson's heroics as well as the Knicks' collective defense, but neither showed up late in Game 3.
So it put Towns is back into focus.
"It's extremely important that he's getting touches, that he's involved, not just in the fourth quarter but obviously throughout the ballgame," Knicks coach Mike Brown said Tuesday at practice. "I've got to continue trying to do a better job of getting him involved throughout the course of the game, as well as late."
Towns was 0-for-4 in the fourth, including two 3-point attempts, so it wasn't as if he didn't get looks. But the Knicks' offense as a whole slowed down in a way that hasn't been the case since the first round against the Atlanta Hawks, when New York's wakeup call spurred this streak.
Towns finished Game 3 with 11 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 38 minutes, taking 10 shots. For the series, he is averaging 16.7 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
In the first half, the Knicks scored 23 points with zero turnovers on 14 plays when Towns had a frontcourt touch, according to ESPN research. The Knicks looked their best in the second quarter, scoring 42, but could muster only 47 second-half points.
"It's a combination," Towns said at practice. "We have a game plan, and we want to execute it. So just trying to execute our game plan, especially when we get in the fourth, is vital, and just doing what I can to execute it at the highest level."
The Knicks are 13-1 in the postseason the past two years when Towns has at least four assists, the lone loss being Game 2 against Atlanta in April. They shot just 25.9% in the fourth quarter of Game 3, which could partly be attributed to the increased physicality of the Finals.
Towns is being defended by smaller players, and that could be affecting his aggressiveness. The Spurs have upped the ante, just as they did in the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder last round.
Brunson referred multiple times to attention to detail during his media session Tuesday. The star guard was the one source of offense late, but perhaps that's what the Spurs want to force the Knicks to be -- a one-man band.
"There's a way for us to do things we have to do, the things that we've done throughout these playoffs," Brunson said. "They're just game-plan discipline. I don't think the discipline we had in those situations were good enough."
Brown complained about the officiating Monday after the game, but he didn't go down that road again Tuesday. Everyone seemed to lean on ball movement, or the lack thereof, being the biggest culprit for Game 3's loss.
"It's been pace, it's been space, it's been getting the ball reversed, it's been touching the paint, and more importantly, it's been making quick decisions," Brown said. "There were a lot of times where the decisions weren't made quick last night. One guy caught, held, held, held, held, held. Now the defense settles in. Now you're in trouble."
It's been 46 days since Brown had to address his team following a loss, but there doesn't appear to be much panic coming from the Knicks.
"We have a veteran group. Nobody is quote-unquote 'panicking' or anything like that," Brown said. "Everybody is disappointed that we didn't go out and execute and play to what we feel our standard is. That's not taking anything away from San Antonio, but we feel like we can play a lot better than what we did."
