[All-Access] “I’m just happy to be playing basketball…it’s kept me alive, I’m forever grateful.” After leading the Knicks to a Game 2 victory with 21 points in the NBA Finals, Karl-Anthony Towns shares his appreciation for basketball.
No one deserves it more out there
I’m not sure if it’s just the contrast of playing them right after OKC, but this Knicks team is easy to like.
Nah KAT is super likable. Dude ended a Jokic run in the playoffs and I still like him. Just a genuine dude who balls. Knicks have been real likable since they did the college reunion team.
He kind of has a cool jog too.
Poor DiVincenzo
Died on the cross for this team
But….I was told last year and earlier this season that we actually won the trade 😭
Hate the cba.
And the timeline because towns was a decent part of why we lost to the mavs. Why couldn’t he have been better
If it helps, I hate this timeline too, brother.
The Wildcats. KAT is a Wildcat too albeit a different kind.
I’ve loved KAT since Kentucky, he’s such a good dude I’m so happy for him
They are easy to like because they are easy to like. Nothing to do with OKC.
Putting easy to like right next to easy to hate amplifies it for sure. It be more pronounced if the Thunder were in the finals vs the Knicks
Everything to do with OKC. My wife doesn’t even watch basketball except for recent playoffs and game one her first observation was “wow these guys aren’t pussies and don’t fly to the floor”. The comparison to the ridiculousness of OKC is directly what made her enjoy game 1. Just because you can’t see it as a homer doesn’t make it not true.
Yeah I’m not a Knicks, Spurs or OKC fan but this was the best possible outcome for my hairline lol
Extremely hard not to root for this dude
He’s a nice, goofy dude. And he can ball
I love nice, goofy dudes
Who doesn’t like nice, goofy dudes?
Heartless heathens.
Probably right. I hope they find their way back to Karl Anthony.
Jimmy Butler
Draymond Green.
Insecure dudes
Jimmy Butler.
And he’s bitching the potential goat with the whole world watching
That’s badass
It is badass. Wemby is excellent but KAT is not backing down.
The way this Spurs team is after another couple years of exper ience I think they’re going to go on an insane run. And I still think it’s quite possible they could come back but obviously I hope not
Tremendous understatement on all points
Hours after he was traded to The Knicks, he still showed up for a youth basketball camp in Minnesota. Said he did it because the kids expected him to be there, and he had promised he would.
No one expected that of him. If any one of us had effectively been let go or transferred….. Odds are pretty good We wouldn’t show up for the volunteer charity event put on by our former employers, especially if we had to figure out moving across country with less than 48 hours
if only adam silver felt this way. KAT has by far the worst whistle in the league
As a Timberwolves fan who believes Ant and Jaden both get terrible whistles…KATs is infinity worse.
I couldn’t believe those 2 they threw on him to give him 4 in the third quarter. Dude grinded his whole life for this moment and refs just said sit down.
That happened to him so much on the Wolves
People bitched about him always being in foul trouble, but he got in foul trouble for looking at opponents wrong.
Definitely a mindset of victim blaming. Should he have been so aggressively and visually angry when they call the bad calls against him? No, it didn’t help…… But also, they kept calling compoundingly bad calls against him; the job they are paid for shouldn’t be to make bad calls. This isn’t like someone who is jaywalking and got hit by a driver…. This is like someone who was jaywalking, got hit by a driver, backed up over him, over and over and over. Small bad decisions Shouldn’t equate to a license for ruination
Yeah wolves whistles are awful. KAT whistles are criminal
My introduction to the Wolves whistle was the infamous, “D’OH ED MALLOY!” incident.
he literally cannot get an and-1 unless he like dies or some shit, it’s crazy
yup, you could make the argument that it was because he was on minnesota but the fact that he’s in new york and it’s still so bad confirms the nba just doesn’t want him to prosper.
(and honestly i have a very hot take on why that is after seeing how the nba reported on the jaden ivey saga)
It’s quite a surprise that KAT has been punking wemby. He’s been looked as “soft” all of his career. Pleasantly surprised.
People said this exact shit about Dirk.
Its easy, Wemby is taller but hes not bigger than Kat. Kat ended up being one of the last true big men and hes got the experience f playing against actual brick walls
And here we are rooting for KAT. Dude has been locked IN. The whole damn team for that matter.
A lot of debates are gonna be fun to look at again if this series goes the way it looks like it’s going. KAT vs Jimmy Butler and “You can’t win with Brunson as your first option”
Butler was the soft one all along. Nothing softer than throwing temper tantrums every other year and dragging other guys names.
Exactly
If he wins the chip, Jimmy Butler will explode
good, fuck Jimmy Butler
He was so good on both ends of the floor, and poised well with a couple of nonsense calls on him
fr, only Embiid doesn’t root for em
Barkley was spot-on, KAT is the difference maker for this series
He had to have thrown up in his mouth saying that, as one of the bigger Kat haters
He seems to actually enjoy eating crow on his KAT views this playoff run, to his credit
He was the first and most adamant to point out that it was KAT not Brunson responsible cut game 1 win. Forgot how he used to rag on him be was so effusive and persistent in his praise as everyone else fell on themselves praising Brunson
The best part about Charles Barkley is that he has enough humility to admit when his opinion is no longer valid and modernizes it
To be fair KAT was a flawed player. This postseason run has seen him play the best he ever has, especially defensively. Barkley always wanted him be better so I bet he’s actually happy to be wrong about KAT now
Strongest Frenchman vs most masculine Dominican in effect.
Underrated comment lol
These playoffs have easily been KAT’s best defensive run and offensive consistency of his career. He’s been showing up the last two months and playing like a legit champion.
KAT defended Wemby awesome
I never got the “soft” Label. He has NEVER been afraid to be physical on defense.
I think people just let that picture of him trying and failing to back down Boogie in the paint live in their head rent free
Didn’t he score on that possession too lmao
nah he passed after
The culture rewards toxicity. KAT doesn’t fit that mold. But yeah, he’s never been “soft” at all, the guy seeks out contact on every possession.
The jimmy butler stuff was really rough on his image
Fkn butler. What a tool. Ring stuff is nonsense but it’ll be mad funny if Kat gets the ring before that dude
Yea, he gets called for soft fouls? lol. Dudes tough af though. Big man drives hard, doesn’t stop
imagine next knicks okc game chet absolutely sons KAT, and we get a rock paper scissors sitch
This happens in the UFC all the time and the sub goes insane trying to argue every angle of who is really the best.
SAS would be thrilled
the chances of two strong teams meeting up within their conference is way higher than your kryptonite coming out of the other conference
KAT got so much fucking shit his whole career for being soft. I want to see those motherfuckers in here now. People making fun of his fucking voice for fuck sakes lmao
I hope they win it all and I hope he continues to dominate because he’s my FMVP at this point. Fight me. Showing Wemby what the playoffs really are
its just a good matchup. stretches the floor out executes plays and passes at a high level, strong enough to guard wemby and fight for boards, agile enough to make baskets around the DPOY. mitch being the more typical centre to take the defensive load along with OG and hart also helps everyone else to focus on a simple defensive responsibility. be in the right spot, fight for position and boards. knicks couldnt contain spurs transition or even their fast guards in the half court but execute plays far better, make the most of 2nd chance purely be being alert and seem deeper or more mature on both sides. spurs in 6
wouldn’t saying punking but playing pretty well
He was a minus defender for years. Not anymore.
Been the best player on the court. Straight hooping.
majin if he shows up more and have MVP plays for the remaining games
“It’s [basketball] kept me alive”
I don’t want to think about the implications of that statement.
Losing a parent is tough
His parents both died of COVID in short order IIRC and they were his rock and that will mess your head up. Say what you will about his play but KAT seems like a genuinely kind person
Edit: it was his mother but the rest of my point stands
His dad is still alive, but I get your point…
His dad is alive but I know several family members died from COVID. He has also had multiple friends die also.
I couldn’t remember if it was one or both. Apologies, but hey congrats on the win
He lost 8 relatives to covid including his mother, so you’re right about it being more than just one parent.
He lost multiple other family members though as well, it’s really sad
I think it was his grandmother
Wade Boggs is very much alive, he lives in Tampa, Florida.
It wasn’t just his mom, it was 7 family members total. Can’t even imagine what that’s like.
I remember he was begging people to get vaccinated, isolate, and mask up. Poor dude. Can’t imagine him having to deal with people making light of it when basically his entire family died.
I thought he lost others around the time of his mom, and Wiki says kat has said he lost 6 others from covid. Even when he was on Minnesota he seemed like a good dude impossible not to root for
Him looking up after the game ended was really touching. This means a lot to him
It makes it hard to root against him and I’m a spurs fan lmao, I like how humble he is
Despite haters calling him soft, KAT has to be one of the toughest players and one of the toughest people in general.
I also never quite understood the soft comments. Every time I see him play he drives into the paint like a tank & he rebounds aggressively too.
He was settling for 3s a lot in the past instead of driving when he has a mismatch on him and was in foul trouble a lot hurting his team but he’s without a doubt the finals mvp so far
Yah, I love kat and he has gotten so much better but you even saw today he decided not to use his size sometimes. Late he had fox on him in the corner with like 15 seconds and he decided to not back him down.
He honestly plays better when he has to use his size with bigger players on him. He was never soft but didn’t use his size the way he should. He’s much better about it now
It’s his voice and the screaming of “oh my gawd” during games.
I don’t agree with these people but thats why the narrative started. Plus the Jummy thing didnt help
To be fair he used to play soft but has really improved and started playing winning basketball on defence
Get the FMVP big man. You deserve it. Say fuck shaq in the final game too.
He’s so cute and handsome and perfect and
a massive d………………etermination to win?
KAT is killing it. Respect, honestly.
Really gotta respect it, knew this would be a tough series coming in and he’s proving why
If Knicks win he’s currently frontrunner for the FMVP
nba can do the funni and name him and brunson as co-finals mvp. His clutch shots and perimeter defense are quite good.
He is the real “Mr Ethical”
I love KAT (favorite non-Spurs player). Makes it so painful he’s kicking our ass.
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At this point, he’s legitimately the front runner.
He is such a good hearted guy.
I can’t dislike any Knicks players. They play hard. Constant motor. Their fans, on the other hand….
And their owner…
nobody gets to a couple billion without being a complete asshole
we just hope that the owner of our team just isnt so forward about being a complete asshole
Billionaires should not exist indeed.
Dolan is a different level of asshole though
And we’re happy we can watch you play Towns
KAT flipped the script on his whole career. He’s going to win a fucking ring and be one of the most important players on the championship team throughout the entire playoffs. He has proved that he belongs in the top echelon of this generation
Happy for kat
Tonight will make up for all the nasty comments people said about KAT. he’s getting (absolutely deserved) extreme praise tonight!!
Protect this man at all costs. What a beautiful soul
Big Purr never the little one
I wish this clip played out for a few more seconds. It shows him embracing his pops with all the love and emotion you ever want from a player. Love you KAT
Man everyone wants to cite Wembys drive and motivation to win. That shit doesn’t exceed KAT’s! This shit is pure, and he’s outplayinf Wemby right now.
There is no way Jimmy Butler doesn’t feel some type of way about this series, respectfully
If you don’t root for this man, you can eat my ass from the back.
Wonder how many will take you up on this offer…
Not even a Knicks fan, but it’s hard to root against this guy. Just seems like a good dude.
RIP momma KAT
“Basketball saved my life”
The pure joy and appreciation for the moment make him so lovable and relatable.
So does the NBA page get precedent when it comes to posting highlights. Just curious.
Also go KAT
I think Wolves made the right decision on the trade, but hearing all the shit talk about the team if KAT wins a title will be worth it. That man deserves it.
Everyone’s acting like we’d be salty, in reality I think every wolves fan with a heart is living and dying with that man’s play right now
If a player embraces Minnesota, our fans will cheer for them until the end of times.
A few fans may be salty but I truly believe most fans are cheering their hearts out for him.
So much more likable than Wemby.
This is the first NBA finals that the Spurs have been in where I’ve rooted for the opposing team. I hope they can close it out and shut Wemby and the Spurs toxic fan base up.
This New York team is better than any Lebron team.
Change my mind.
I’m sure NY fans are also grateful for your presence. Shoutout to Jimmy Butler.
We need this dude to win
Finals MVP so far
Put the KAT statue next to Brunson statue
Wow. This is the most genuinely amazing quotes. No god fluff. Just the truth.
Kat has been absolutely incredible in this series.
Love you Big KAT
We hear Wemby talk about love for the game and how it’s so refreshing for fans to hear, but KAT is showing that he’s not the only one.
I’m here for the positive vibes NBA.
Yea Knicks won the trade.
Rooting for KAT.😔
Such a good dude
Damnit. I can’t hate this guy.
A wholesome aura gamble here
Max vibes
Can’t hate this man.
Didn’t want a T-Mac situation to happen lol. Finish the job first.
Thats an all time post game interview if the Knicks pull this off
Love KAT!
As a Nuggets fan, I’m glad I don’t have to see him all the time (T-Wolves still F us up anyways) but I’d root him for regardless what team he is on.
Can’t be anything better than winning it for your childhood team as a player. This is the stuff you dream about as a kid.
KAT legacy points are stacking up at an all-time rate.
Two more wins big man. Go get em.
Happy for KAT. Playing well throughout these playoffs both offensively and defensively.
He needs the ring!!!!!
He’s a good kid
Great dude. Nothing but love for this guy when the pacers aren’t playing him
I love this finals matchup, both team deseves to win, but its the Knicks this year.
I don’t even think it’s crazy to say that he’s currently the MVP of the finals. Others will definitely say Brunson but KAT has been their best player all round. He does everything.
I LOVE WATCHING YOU PLAY BASKETBALL
Good for KAT, he’s gone through a lot of shit but it’s always nice when a player finally finds a home
Where are the KAT haters
BIG PURR U THE FMVP MY HEART
I was shattered after the game, but watching this was pretty fucking awesome, KAT has been through hell off the court over his career, and really deserves the success he’s had these last few years, but particularly this off-season.
Hopefully we can pull off the miracle comeback, but if not, it will be pretty cool to see guys like Towns get their big moment.
All the goodwill that Chet lost has been transferred directly to Kat this finals. Probably the most underrated superstar, is finally getting his flowers and it’s great to see. Especially since he is such a good bloke.
This dude has never really been appreciated for everything he brings to the table. A great all around player and a class act.
Shine ⭐
So happy for KAT
I’m rooting for the Spurs, but damn- this dude rules and everyone knows it
your terrible refs tried to steal the game u/nba
The turnaround of the career of this man, proud we have people like him in the league.
Finals mvp
KAT stocks has sky rocketed this playoffs
i think i’m becoming a fan, queen.
NGL it would make me so happy if he wins finals mvp, he deserves it
What an awesome dude. Playing amazing and just an all round great person. Can’t even pretend to hate the Knicks team, especially not KAT.
KAT taking another step as a player, and is easily a top 15 player in the league now. Good for him!
I feel like this man grew up in one season. I’m not sure when his mom passed, but it clearly made him work harder and take accountability. I love to see this.
He is making himself into a true leader.
Respect.
A cool cat, you love to see it
I’ve never been a KAT fan but imo he is the front runner for Finals MVP right now.
KAT can continue his heroics by criticizing the presidents attendance to game three.
MVP
We all rooting for you big purr.