Mavs giving Doncic night off due to quad strain

Karl-Anthony Towns has had a good start to the season with the New York Knicks as he’s back to playing center full time for the first time in two years.

“I don’t just lose the ability to play the five,” Towns said on Friday when asked about being back at center.

Towns says his play is “just being able to do what I did a lot of years at the five.”

“I feel I’m a better version of myself,” Towns said. “I’m smarter, more experienced, I think I’m more talented than I’ve ever been. So being able to utilize that for our team is what I want to do every single night so it can translate to wins.”

Towns currently has the highest rebound rate of his career and his block rate is also up from where it was over the past two seasons after the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Rudy Gobert to play center.