Karl-Anthony Towns said he felt his late mother’s presence during the Knicks’ Game 1 road win over the San Antonio Spurs, a performance that also helped New York match up well against Victor Wembanyama. Towns finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds and plans t
For years, Karl-Anthony Towns endured a familiar kind of criticism from across the basketball world. He was a superstar in talent. but he was repeatedly questioned for how he played as a 7-footer—labeled “weak” on the court by some. too passive when the game demanded force. too theoretical when stakes rose.
In the 2026 NBA Playoffs, the debate got a sharper edge. Towns’ performances helped drive the New York Knicks’ run to the Finals for the first time in 27 years, and he entered the biggest stretch of the season as the arguable MVP.
On Wednesday, Towns backed up the shift with what looked like pure determination in the grandest setting. In Game 1. he put together 17 points and 12 rebounds in a win on the road against the San Antonio Spurs—and it wasn’t only the numbers that changed the feel of the game. Towns did a job on Victor Wembanyama. limiting the impact of a player who. in the prior two rounds. had “ripped through” Rudy Gobert and Chet Holmgren.
Towns’ style stretched the matchup in a way the Spurs hadn’t seen in these playoffs. He can shoot from long range and push Wembanyama outside of his sweet spot around the rim, giving San Antonio a different look than it had grown accustomed to.
What had been viewed as a weakness—whether Towns was physical enough. competitive enough. or mentally ready when the moment hit—appeared. at least in Game 1. to be part of New York’s edge. The question now is whether that composure can travel with the Knicks as the series goes deeper against the 7-foot-4 generational talent.
After the win, Towns described a calm he said came from beyond basketball. His mother passed away six years ago due to COVID complications during the pandemic, and he credited that memory with helping him stay steady once the Finals started.
“I don’t know. I just felt a calm and a peace that had to come from the woman above. ” he told the post-game crew on “Inside the NBA” after the Game 1 win. “I felt really confident about today. I felt good. I felt like I was a kid; it was fun out here. I felt like I was a kid getting ready to go play my Saturday AAU games and Sunday AAU games. In a way, I felt like I was seeing her in the stands.”.
He added that the comfort wasn’t just emotional—it felt physical, like someone close enough to change the temperature of the moment.
“It felt like a certain presence was here, and it was really comforting and loving. And I felt like I could have fun out here for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.”
The Knicks will try to turn that Game 1 swing into momentum. Towns and New York will look to go up 2-0 in the series on Friday, before returning to Madison Square Garden at the beginning of next week for the next leg of the spectacle.
Karl-Anthony Towns Knicks NBA Finals Game 1 San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama Madison Square Garden Inside the NBA