The Knicks may have overlooked the Spurs after becoming the third road team in NBA Finals history to take the first two games of the series.
At least, that’s what Karl-Anthony suggested was one issue in their Game 3 defeat.
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“The details that made us special, we were too relaxed in them, and we didn’t execute them at the level that you guys are used to seeing,” Towns said Tuesday. “So doing that and also just the fundamentals of what our team is and how we play, we didn’t do that for 48 minutes. It’s something that has got us that 13-game winning streak.
Karl-Anthony Towns struggles to make a move on Julian Champagnie during the Knicks’ Game 3 loss to the Spurs at the Garden. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“Playing around with the game against a great team, you’re asking for a disaster, and that’s what we got.”
The Knicks had talked plenty after Game 2 of playing with desperation with a 2-0 series lead and treating the Finals like the series was 0-0. They had done a remarkable job of handling success and avoiding complacency throughout the franchise record playoff win streak.
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But they lacked that sense of urgency in the first Finals game at MSG in 27 years.
They started each half poorly. The Spurs scored the game’s first seven points and led by double figures after just 4:26. The Knicks recovered to build a seven-point lead at halftime, only to see San Antonio start the third quarter just like the first stanza, ripping off a 15-4 burst.
“I just saw us not executing the little details that made us special,” Towns said. “The game they brought to MSG yesterday, we didn’t meet their level.”
It manifested itself in the Knicks allowing a playoff-high 115 points and producing a playoff-low 18 assists.
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They also committed 13 turnovers, many of them unforced, leading to 21 Spurs points.
Team captain Jalen Brunson echoed Towns that the Knicks were lacking when it came to minor things. One of them was sending the Spurs to the free-throw line 32 times.
While coach Mike Brown was critical of the officiating — the Knicks attempted 10 fewer free throws than the Spurs — Brunson didn’t use that as an excuse Tuesday.
“There’s a way for us to do things we have to do, the things that we’ve done throughout these playoffs,” he said. “They’re just game plan discipline. I don’t think the discipline we had in those situations were good enough. We just got to be disciplined in those moments.”
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