The “feud” between New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was the main storyline leading up to their matchup on Saturday. Green made reckless comments about Towns’ absence in their previous matchup on March 4 and never formally apologized for the inaccurate remarks.
Knicks: Karl-Anthony Towns dominated his matchup against Draymond Green
Though the Knicks were unable to come away with the win, Towns made his presence known with a dominant 29-point, 12-rebound effort. He and Green were matched up against each other throughout most of the game, and they brought the intensity that was advertised.
Green gave Towns his props for performing with high energy and physicality.
“Good to see KAT show up and play like that. He played hard, played well. He was physical, probably most physical I’ve ever seen him. He had a little extra motivation, so that made the game really fun. That was great,” Green said, via Newsday’s Steve Popper.
Towns was playing with extra motivation
Knicks players, including Towns, had previously indicated that they were moving on from Green’s comments and not letting them get in the way of finishing the season strong. While there was no true confrontation during the game, it is clear that Towns was playing with a bit of extra motivation.
Unfortunately for New York, they fell short of gaining the win without Jalen Brunson and went 0-2 against Golden State this season. New York will now gear up for their next game which is back home against the Miami Heat on Monday.
The hope for them is that the extra motivated version of Towns they got against the Warriors shows up the rest of the way and into the playoffs.