Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks looking to solve foul trouble woes against 76ers, crafty Tyrese Maxey

Knicks head coach Mike Brown stressed this point after scoring a decisive victory in the first game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals: New York can’t allow the Philadelphia 76ers to continue to draw so many fouls, especially after the Knicks' big men got into foul trouble early in Game 1. “We can't put ourselves in the position to put the whistle on the referees’ hands of making a call or no call,” Brown said in the build-up to Wednesday night’s game . “So we gotta do a better job of leading with our chest and showing our hands.

" Karl-Anthony Towns , who had already picked up his second foul with 4:29 left in the first quarter of Game 2 , returned for the start of the second, for a stretch when the Knicks need him to run the show with Jalen Brunson sitting as he normally does after playing the entire first. To stress the point even further, the Knicks, shorthanded with reserve big man Mitchell Robinson out with an illness , already saw Ariel Hukporti get dinged for three fouls in less than four minutes of action in the opening period. Unfortunately, after knocking down a bucket to give him nine points in the game, Towns got caught on a switch and foolishly stuck out his right leg and bumped Tyrese Maxey 46 seconds into the quarter, sending him right back to the bench.

He would remain there for the rest of the half. Towns said he doesn’t want to lose his “physicality,” but admitted the need to get “more disciplined” in his play. “I don't want to put my team in that position again, so I got to do a better job,” he said after the 108-102 win to take a 2-0 series lead .

For Brown, it comes down to doing a “better job” from everyone, including Towns. “We have to keep trying to lead with our chest and show our hands and hope they don’t call it,” he said. “But they’re really, really good, especially Maxey.