At the stroke of halftime, the New York Knicks held a 14-point lead against a team heavily favored to win the title. The Oklahoma City Thunder barely face such adversity, especially at home. However, in a battle between two of the hottest teams in the NBA, there was a 24-point swing. The Thunder struck down the Knicks which could be attributed to the defense they played on Karl-Anthony Towns.

KAT has been a charging, ruthless center ever since joining the Big Apple. For three straight games, he had scored 30+ points. However, against the Thunder, their excruciating defense limited him to just 17 points. And another reason might be that Towns has been playing through some pain in his left hand.

After the game, the Knicks center was spotted wearing a hard brace around his left ring finger. The injury occurred while playing against the Jazz. And when Stefan Bondy asked him about playing through a possible broken finger, KAT looked unbothered. “It’s a finger. It’ll be fine,” was his response.

The four-time All-Star didn’t appear to confirm whether he sustained a broken finger in the game against the Utah Jazz. However, from the looks of the brace, it does seem to be a broken finger. Even if not, Karl-Anthony Towns might have felt some discomfort in trying to score the ball, recording his lowest tally in a game he played 40 minutes in this season.

The formidable center still battled on the glass against a stellar rebounder such as Isaiah Hartenstein. Towns grabbed 22 rebounds. It was the fourth time this season that the former number-one pick has surpassed 20+ rebounds in a game.

(This is a developing story)