Towns listed as questionable on Knicks' injury report for Game 5 with knee issue
Published
New York Knicks centre Karl-Anthony Towns is dealing with a left knee contusion and is listed as questionable on the New York Knicks' injury report for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Knicks will try to keep their season alive against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.
Towns appeared to have suffered the injury in a collision with Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith late in Game 4, which the Pacers won 130-121 on Tuesday.
Towns went to the ground after the collision with 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter holding his left knee, and was hobbled the rest of the way.
The 29-year-old big man has scored at least 20 points in all four games this series, and was instrumental in New York's only win in Game 3. He scored 20 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, as the Knicks roared back from a 20-point deficit to win 106-100.
He couldn't replicate the effort in the loss in Game 4.
"In true fashion to our whole playoff run, we put ourselves in a deficit, got ourselves out of the deficit, and then usually we feel good about us going into a close game in the fourth quarter and showing our resilience. But you get burned if you put yourself in that position too many times," Towns said after the game. "We think coming into the fourth quarter that we're going to find that one trick again. We just didn't have that magic tonight."
In 72 games in the regular season - Towns' first with the Knicks after a trade in the off-season sent him over from the Minnesota Timberwolves - Towns averaged 24.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.
The Knicks and Pacers are each trying to break extended streaks - New York hasn't made an NBA Finals since the summer of 1999, while Indiana hasn't been there since the summer of 2000.