Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t expect to arrive at the Barclays Center on Friday night. But he followed the wishes of his father, Karl Sr., who is recovering from a medical procedure, and dropped 26 points with 15 rebounds in a 93-92 win over the Nets.
“I wasn’t going to play, my pops kept saying they wanted me to play,” said Towns, who was listed as questionable for personal reasons before being reported. “So I said I would. So I came to play the game. I’m going to go back and be with him on the road to recovery.”
Karl Sr., a former star at Monmouth University, is a key player at his son’s games, often flying commercial to follow the Knicks on road trips.
Towns lost his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, to COVID-19 in 2020.
Sources said Karl Sr.’s health issue. he does not put his life at risk.
The Nets have not officially released Michael Porter Jr. the whole season, but it can happen again.
Brooklyn ruled Porter out with a strained left hamstring and said he would be evaluated in two to three weeks.
Asked if Porter could return this season, Nets coach Jordi Fernández said: “So, in two to three weeks, there’s obviously a push to get back to the championship level, so we can’t speculate. But it’s going to be close. So we’ll go through these two, three weeks and put in the work and stuff; then we’ll see where we are.”
With three weeks to go until the April 10 semifinals in Milwaukee and the final two nights later in Toronto, any ramp up strains belief.
Noah Clowney missed Friday’s game with a sprained right wrist and is unlikely to play against Sundayat Sacramento.
“Yes, obviously I had to take him out because he was in so much pain,” said Fernández.
“And Noah, the moment I saw that he was in pain, I said, ‘Do you need a sub?’ And I like to ask guys to play rough so I can go out, and end up calling a timeout. So he was very sad. He has a wrist. He will be out [Friday]He’ll probably be out in the next game, and we’ll go from there.”
Terance Mann (illness), Egor Dëmin (plantar fasciitis), Day’Ron Sharpe (thumb) were out for Brooklyn.
Jalen Brunson, who sat out Tuesday’s win over Indiana, returned to the lineup for his 65th game, qualifying for postseason honors.
The Knicks guard is expected to be an All-NBA selection and is the reigning Clutch Player of the Year.
Josh Hart was out with runner’s knee.
Brooklyn’s Josh Minott had 22 points and shot 6-for-9 from deep.
His six 3-pointers were a career-best and the points were two points off his career high.
He added five boards, two blocks and a steal in 25:47 off the bench.
