Knicks badly missing injured Karl-Anthony Towns as star sits out

The injury Karl-Anthony Towns suffered late Saturday night against the Bulls forced him to miss his third game of the season for the Knicks. His inside-outside presence was sorely missed in an awful 103-94 loss Monday night to the Magic, which Tom Thibodeau lamented as a “low-energy game” for the Knicks. The Knicks officially termed Towns’ injury right knee tendinopathy, also known as jumper’s knee, the same condition that forced him out of the lineup earlier in the season. The 29-year-old Towns’ 34.6 minutes per game in his first season in New York marked his most since 2017-18 with the Timberwolves.He was replaced in the starting lineup by Jericho Sims, who scored four points with 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. “Whoever is in there, it’s a next-man-up mentality.

He obviously brings a lot to the game, but it’s unfair to the rest of the guys on the team, who put in all the work, to say without him we weren’t able to do a lot,” Jalen Brunson said of Towns.“We just need to come ready to play with energy, regardless of what happens.” Backup point guard Miles McBride also missed his fourth straight game with a hamstring injury. Thibodeau reiterated that center Mitchell Robinson (ankle) still is awaiting clearance to resume practicing, saying “that will probably be the next step, so just doing his rehab stuff.

There’s a lot of bench marks he has to clear and once he does that, he’ll get on to the court.” Robinson, who hasn’t spoken to the media since he was injured in the playoffs last spring, expressed frustration with fans on social media criticizing his slow rehab process in a post Monday on X. “It’s so amazing that y’all KNOW what happened and still fault me but wonder why I act the way I act,” Robinson wrote.“All love tho.” Paolo Banchero (return to play conditioning), Franz Wagner (oblique), Moe Wagner (knee), Jalen Suggs (back) and Gary Harris (hamstring) remained out for the Magic....