There was plenty of animosity from fans directed at Knicks players. But the loudest boos were held for Karl-Anthony Towns.
When he briefly checked out of the game late in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 114-97 loss to the Mavericks on Monday at Madison Square Garden, he was hounded with loud jeers.
“I mean, you spend what $140 to represent your favorite player with a jersey,” Towns said of the boos. “And you come to an MLK Day game at The Garden and the tickets are twice to three times the price, and to come here and spend your hard-earned money, money that you’ve saved up to bring your family to this game and for us to come here and obviously to not only win — which is disappointing — but to not really have a chance? I’d be disappointed too, and fans, they spend their hard-earned money. They give us so much love and motivation to go out there and they’re expecting results and so do we. So fans are doing their part and we’ve gotta do our part.”
Karl-Anthony Towns on the boos at MSG directed at him and the team
“You spend $140 to represent your favorite player with a jersey. You come to MLK Day here at The Garden and tickets are 3x the price. I’d be disappointed too” pic.twitter.com/vrTAznt1mV
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) January 20, 2026
Towns has struggled during the Knicks free fall. He was given a flagrant foul for kicking Dwight Powell in the groin while taking a 3-pointer. By the end, it was the fourth straight game he recorded five fouls.
“You just gotta win at the end of the day,” Towns said after finishing with 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting and 18 rebounds. “Fans nor us want to hear any excuses. We’ve just gotta wanna get the job done and that’s what we’ve gotta do.”
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With the Knicks back to full strength, Jordan Clarkson might now be on the periphery of coach Mike Brown’s rotation.
He played just two minutes in Monday’s loss.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
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“There are different combinations that we haven’t had this year,” Brown said. “My biggest goal, I got a range of minutes that I like guys to play. With these eight, eight and a half to nine guys, it’s hard to get them to that range by playing many more guys. I gotta keep messing around with it and make sure that it fits seamlessly with the group to help them flow on the floor, on both ends.”
Draymond Green tormented Towns on the court last week during the Knicks loss to the Warriors on Thursday and then on his podcast posted Monday, saying the Knicks center’s voice weakens his ability to trash-talk.
“OG Anunoby and I were having a conversation,” Green said. “And [Towns] came over and joined in, talking. And he told me, ‘Hey man, you’re going to start talking in the last minute and a half of the game? You’re a front-runner.’
“Now, one thing Karl-Anthony Towns can’t do is call me a front-runner. His voice changes too much to call someone a front-runner. Because we don’t really know which KAT we getting.”
