In a post-game interview following the New York Knicks' Game 5 victory against the Indiana Pacers, Karl-Anthony Towns was grilled by Inside the NBA host Charles Barkley on some of his "dumb" fouls.
Towns put in an impressive performance during the game on Thursday, May 29, with 24 points and 13 rebounds in 36 minutes. Despite the performance, he managed to incur five fouls, three of which occurred in his first five minutes on the court. After the Inside the NBA hosts praised KAT for the game, Barkley took a minute to sprinkle in some criticism, too.
"I gotta say something now, I gotta criticize you... Young man, why do you be getting them dumb fouls?" Barkley asked. "Why do you do that?" Towns laughed and shook his head, "God only knows." Barkley stressed that he needs to be more careful, and Towns agreed. "I gotta do a much better job on that," he said. "You ain't wrong, it hurts the entire team. ... I gotta fix that, though."
Towns' performance alongside teammate Jalen Brunson made them the third duo to ever score 20 or more points during the first five games of a Conference Finals, putting them alongside NBA legends Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in 1966 and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 2002.
The New York Knicks beat out the Pacers 111-94 in Game 5, giving them a further chance at making the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They will play against the Pacers in Indianapolis on Saturday (May 31) in a pivotal game.
