Towns knows what it takes to make a deep playoff run. And he’s both talented and capable enough of a scorer and play-maker to turn a game with his individual gifts.

The Pistons were shorthanded in the middle, missing their hard-nosed center Isaiah Stewart, leaving them to find a way to try to keep Karl-Anthony Towns from taking over. But it turned out that the Knicks did it for them.

New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns was a non-factor in Monday’s 100-94 Game 2 loss to the Detroit Pistons, disappearing down the stretch as the series evened at 1-1.