Knicks’ lack of center depth with Karl-Anthony Towns ailing leads to 9-point loss to Pistons

The Knicks don’t have very many weak spots.

Their guard play is top of the line. Their wings are some of the best in the league. And their center might be the most dangerous perimeter threat in the game.

The back court depth is sneaky good, too: Miles McBride and Cam Payne are flamethrowers from downtown. Precious Achiuwa is a versatile front court player, too.

Full stop.

If there’s been one vulnerability for a Knicks team hoping to be the last standing at the end of the season, it’s behind Karl-Anthony Towns at center. With Mitchell Robinson still on the mend recovering from offseason ankle surgery, New York has limited options at their disposal until his return.

Which made for an ugly game on Saturday, when Towns sat due to what the team listed as patellar tendinopathy in his right knee.

Without him, the Knicks lost to a new-and-improved Detroit Pistons team, 120-111, at Madison Square Garden despite having a stacked starting four. Because one missing domino can make all the difference, and it was on Saturday to stop a four-game winning streak in its tracks.

The Knicks won nine of their previous 11 games before the Pistons handed them an L on their own home floor.

Without Towns, head coach Tom Thibodeau turned to Jericho Sims, whose roller-coaster ride of a season took a turn for the worst against the Pistons.

Sims got the start and played the first six minutes. After a number of blunders, he never saw the court for the rest of the game.

It was the second straight first quarter full of head-scratching moments for Sims, an uber-athletic 7-footer who owns the league’s highest defensive field goal percentage at the rim among centers — a stat Thibodeau loves to mention — sets hard screens and can jump out of the gym, but has still yet to put it together with his decision-making on the floor.

On Thursday against the Charlotte Hornets, for example, Sims received a pass at the top of the three-point line, dribbled toward the paint, and instead of attempting a dunk or a finish at the rim, committed the cardinal basketball sin of jump-passing, only for the ball to be intercepted and turn into a transition opportunity for the opponent.

On Saturday against the Pistons, he drove to the rim from the three-point line again, only this time, he lost the ball altogether, a turnover that sent Thibodeau into a rage of fury.

Thibodeau pulled Sims and never went back to him. He finished the game with one assist, zero points and zero rebounds.

Thibodeau then turned to Ariel Hukporti, the 58th and final pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Hukporti had far more success than Sims, who set the bar on beneath the hardwood floor: He was the recipient of two alley-oop lob passes from Jalen Brunson, and also scored on a face-up drive from the foul line to the rim.

Hukporti finished with nine points on a perfect four-of-four shooting from the field, but was out of position on a handful of defensive rotations. The Pistons took advantage of a Knicks team lacking an interior presence, getting into the paint with ease, only to spray out to three-point shooters who made 18 of their 36 attempts from deep at The Garden on Saturday.

Achiuwa closed the game at center and helped the Knicks go on a late run, but Thibodeau likes to play the versatile big man at power forward. He finished with 10 rebounds off the bench to go with six points and four assists in 27 minutes of action.

The Knicks outscored the Pistons by 10 in Achiuwa’s minutes but were outscored by nine in Sims’ six minutes and 13 in Hukporti’s time on the floor.

All the while, Robinson sat on the bench watching as his team attempted to survive an injury to Towns.

The Knicks can sustain one big man going down, but two injuries at center is one of the bigger fears for a team that appears teflon elsewhere on the roster.

Brunson scored a team-high 31 points, Mikal Bridges added 20 points and Josh Hart and OG Anunoby each scored 17 points. Officials ejected Hart after he picked up his second technical foul with under 90 seconds left in regulation.

Meanwhile, point of attack defense reared its head as a concern once more. The Knicks had no answer for Cade Cunningham, who was on the verge of a first-half triple double and finished the game with 29 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds. Malik Beasley came off the bench and hit seven 3s for 23 points, and all five Pistons starters scored in double figures.

Towns’ injury isn’t believed to be a long-term concern, and Achiuwa should see his minutes ramp up after making his season debut on Friday after a preseason hamstring injury.

Robinson, a rim-protecting dominant rebounder, is expected to return in January. The Knicks had better hope Towns can stay healthy until his return. Without him, they are still a loaded offensive team, but their glaring vulnerability will be at the five, and teams will take advantage.

The Pistons did on Saturday.