Karl Anthony-Towns is in his second season with the New York Knicks and playing at an elite level. Towns is averaging 21.6 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists while shooting 47% from the field.

He's shown time and time again that he has big game capabilities, and he showed that again Tuesday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves, his former team of nine seasons, faced off against the Knicks. 

Minnesota got the better of New York in a 115-104 victory, but Towns showed out with a 40-point, 13-rebound double-double. 

Despite Towns' great individual performance, the box score didn't favor his team and while New York head coach Mike Brown was happy to see one of his stars show out, there were plenty of other areas of Towns' performance that Brown was frustrated with.

"KAT, obviously he can score. He had 40 tonight. I've said it before, he's a walking double-double," Brown said (via BASKETMAN). "He just has to continue to try to not pick up cheap fouls. He had a couple of cheap fouls where he led with his hands or he helped the guy. Now, we have to sit him for X amount of minutes when he needs to be on the floor."

Brown brings up a valid point: a star player can't help the team if they're held down by fouls or stuck on the bench. Towns ended up fouling out in the game, meaning his 40-piece could have grown even higher, and he could have been out on the court helping his team close the distance in the final minutes had he not racked up so many fouls earlier in the game. 

His scoring and rebounding are already expected from a player of his caliber, but Brown still sees areas, like fouling, that Towns needs to improve on so he can continue to be an asset to the team for a full 48 minutes. 

Fouls and officiating are always a touchy subject when it comes to NBA games and are typically looked at as things that can decide the end result, but it's up to the players to do whatever they can to limit the mistakes that lead to fouls and ultimately take them out of the game, like what happened to Towns on Tuesday. 

"The 40 and 13, it doesn't surprise me at all because he's more than capable. But, if you're going to be a great player we, and I'm sure he does too, expect more from him so he can be out on that floor," Brown said.