Shaquille O’Neal looked as if it would really like what Karl-Anthony Towns did in Game 2 for the Knicks on Monday night.
His broadcast partner had to supply a friendly reminder of how things actually went down in Latest York’s loss.
“He played like an actual big man tonight. I’m glad for KAT,” O’Neal said during “Contained in the NBA” after the Pistons took the win.
The issue was that Towns didn’t even rating a degree within the second half, nor did he attempt a shot within the fourth quarter in a game where the Knicks mounted a late rally but fell 100-94.
Johnson reminded O’Neal of this info because the TNT show continued to broadcast highlights of the sport.
“Well, he did in the primary half,” Johnson replied to O’Neal’s “big man” comment. He didn’t rating within the second half.”
The Basketball Hall of Famer seemed surprised, replying: “Oh, wow.”
Towns finished with just 10 points, only the third time this 12 months he scored 10 or fewer points in a game.
O’Neal’s response to Towns’ down game was the polar opposite of Stephen A. Smith, who took the Knicks big man to task on ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday morning and said he needed to do more to support Jalen Brunson.
“Last night we’re lamenting him not shooting in any respect,” Smith said. “Wait a minute, you’ve gotta shoot! You are taking three shot attempts within the second half, you go scoreless within the second half — on the Garden — against a young, up-and-coming Detroit Pistons team. This wasn’t the reigning defending champion Boston Celtics he was going up against. … We expected more from him.”
“If nothing else, you’ll be able to put up some points. Try this,” Smith continued. “Should you ain’t doing that, you literally serve no purpose.”
The hassle marked the sixth time in his playoff profession that he couldn’t exceed the 10-point mark.
“I used to be executing what we said we desired to do,” Towns said afterward. “Just possibly, you usually wish you would get considered one of those long rebounds, loose balls. It was something that got us, they got those 50-50 balls. We just didn’t get that today. It put us in a tricky spot, we fought back, we put ourselves in the sport, gave ourselves a likelihood, took some good shots.”
