Karl-Anthony Towns returned from one injury and picked up another.

With another game looming Monday against the Wizards, Towns gave a positive but vague answer about his availability.

“That’s always the plan: To play,” Towns said.

Towns, who finished with 26 points and 15 boards, took a hard spill late in the third quarter, a slip-and-tumble that left him almost horizontal before landing on his lower back.

He was in clear pain and sat the final 7:20, although coach Tom Thibodeau said that was a strategic move to boost the defense against a smaller Nets lineup.

“Just the way the game was going,” Thibodeau said. “We had the lead. They were small. We wanted to do more switching. So we were reading how it was going.”

Towns had missed the previous game with a contused knee and quickly picked up a flagrant foul Sunday for backhanding the groin area of Nets forward Cam Johnson.