Knicks Star's Defensive Lapses Have Long Frustrated His Team

No one entered these Eastern Conference Finals preparing for a defensive clinic from Karl-Anthony Towns.

The 10-year NBA veteran has accumulated six All-Star appearances due to his talent. At seven feet tall, Towns is a skilled shooter and scorer who's now helped rattle off six playoff series in his last two seasons between his time with the New York Knicks and last year's Minnesota Timberwolves.

As talented as he is, his defense has often held him back. It's part of why he hasn't been considered in the same tier as well-rounded NBA superstars, and it's hampered his teams in some big spots before.

Towns certainly provided some legitimacy to the narrative in this series, getting the conference finals started with a defensive disaster-class. He couldn't hold up in the pick-and-roll, his feet and instincts looked too slow to help his team in rotation and his mental looked to occasionally get the better of him in committing several awe-inspiring personal fouls.

Analysts and fans have long considered how the star would hold up in playoff basketball situations, and as it turns out, the Knicks organization wasn't thrilled about his season-long lapses.

According to The Athletic, all of the allusions to defensive miscommunications and inconsistencies were all referring to KAT. Not only does the damning report pin a lot of the blame on the first-year Knick, it also accuses him of failing to recognize the significance of the moment.