Karl-Anthony Towns spoke after winning the NBA championship with the New York Knicks, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the Finals. The center discussed the Dominican celebration, the value of defense on championship night, Jalen Brunson's leadership, his father's role in his development, and the enduring memory of his mother at the most important moment of his career.
Q. KAT, congratulations.
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Thank you.
Q. First of all, for the Latino population, your people in the Dominican Republic right now, it's a party. Right now it's a celebration. What's your message for your fans in the Dominican Republic and are you going to take the trophy there?
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Of course I am, I'm going to take it everywhere. Everywhere. I'm going to take it to Santo Domingo, to Santiago, to Casa de Campo, in La Romana. We're going to do a little world tour with it.
But it's great that Dominicans all over the world can celebrate this moment. A huge recognition to Al Horford, who really inspired me to do this.
I have my two rookies here [Ariel Hukporti and Mohamed Diawara], you know what I mean. It's incredible, that's what it's about. They're living this experience. For me it's a lifetime of work, 11 years. They've seen it in two years.
MOHAMED DIAWARA: One year.
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: It's crazy, in their rookie year. I remember coming in as the number one pick and I thought I had a shot. I was lying to myself; it took me 11 years to do it.
God is good. Like I said, I thought in my first or second year I'd get one after having a successful career in high school and college. You never know how truly difficult it is to reach the NBA Finals.
But for them, God's timing was different for all of us. For [Diawara] it was one year, for [Hukporti] it was two years and for me 11 years. A lot of ups and downs in my career to get to this point. I'm glad to be able to give this moment to Dominicans all over the world, to New York Knicks fans all over the world, to these rookies, to my young teammate here and to Ariel. I'm super happy and excited that this is a worldwide celebration for everyone.
Q. Four straight games you've had to come back, in every way possible, and today it was Jalen who held you up offensively. What does it mean to see this team find a way in every game?
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: That says so much about this team, how versatile we are and the depth we have. It's crazy, for all of us, for me personally, you would have thought that to win, my offense would have to step up to another level, but today it was defense that did it for me.
Something that's always been talked about regarding me and my defense, and I'm glad I was able to show the world on the biggest stage that I could do it. And against a great player, too. That's going to be something special for many years. An athlete once in a generation.
Credit to the Spurs too. They're real.
Credit to Dylan Harper, from Jersey; he's real too.
It's just a great moment for all of us and for the organization and the Knicks family.
You know, the young guys can enjoy this, man, and that's what it's about. Especially being a veteran, you want to give your young guys this moment. You want to show them what it takes to be great and for them to take the torch, and I can see them be great with my kids.
[OG Anunoby steps up to the podium.] Mr. Aura. Like I said before, you can't spell "God" without "OG". Come on, man. Where are you going? Come on, bring the sketches. Come on, bring the sketches.
You're a rookie. You're supposed to be standing. What's going on here?
Q. You mentioned what this means for future generations. I'm wondering what it's like and what an important role Karl Senior has played in your life up to this point.
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: He's been everything to me. He taught me the game of basketball. He invested so many hours. I remember he worked at Piscataway Vo Tech. Credit to Ludovico, the athletic director when I was growing up, because I always say that sometimes you have to have a lot of things go right to be at this level, even just to get to college. Something always has to break your way. I was very fortunate that Ludovico was the athletic director at Piscataway Vo Tech. That allowed me to go to the gym and have a gym to train and work on my game all the time, at any hour.
I had a father who was willing to invest those long hours as a high school coach to give me the opportunity to have a gym. I think for a lot of players listening to this, one of the hardest things is finding a gym. And also, I was blessed with having some money, two parents who loved me and a wooden court. Not an outdoor court or a cement court, but a wooden court to work on my game and get to this point.
I also had a father who believed in me and believed in my vision. When everyone was telling me to be more of a back-to-basket player, to never shoot threes, to never work on that part of my game and to not have perimeter skills, when I told my father what my vision was for me as a player, he believed in me and was willing to set aside a lot of advice from very important people in coaching.
I'll never forget the day I took a walk with my father around the block in Piscataway. I was just telling him: I know there are incredible people who want to train me and say they're going to take my game to another level, but he and I are the ones who got to this level, and he and I are the ones who can take me to the next level and beyond.
My father accepted that challenge. He accepted that challenge and trusted me, his son, who was young and maybe didn't know as much as he did, obviously. But he could see the passion I had for this game and for what I thought could be the vision of my game and how I could change the game.
I mean, all the credit goes to him and also to my mother, because there were many hours when they didn't see me and they trusted in me, and my father was really working hard and trusting that we were going to do something special with this. I know she's looking down from above, really proud, knowing that all those nights coming home at 10:30 after the gym were worth it.
Q. Jalen tries to shoot, falls on Victor's foot and looks injured. Like he always does, he comes back into the game. As for his pain tolerance, what have you seen of his ability to get back up over and over?
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: That's Cap. Cap always finds a way to get back on the court and produce. That's a testament to who he is and just his story, of never giving up, of always being the underdog, always looked down on. You always need someone to believe in you. This organization believed in him and we believed in him. We were going to do whatever it took to take him to the next level.
I think I speak for myself and OG: it's been an honor to come to this team and amplify it. Leon [Rose], Gerss [Gersson Rosas] and everyone else, for believing in us and seeing what we could be, and also seeing what we could do when other people said we couldn't do it.
And in two of the three trades—which I say were three of three—two of the three trades are up here [on the podium] right now, that people were saying: what the hell are they doing? Obviously they knew better than everyone else. So credit to them.
Q. Following up on that, you talked about Jalen, that he wasn't going to be alone, that you were going to be with him every step of the way, and tonight, for him to accelerate like that, 45 points in a game to close out the series on the road, what did you see in front of him tonight and what do you see in him?
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: I see a man who has grown and accepted the challenge of being in the biggest market in the world, with a team that hadn't reached the NBA Finals in 27 years and hadn't won in 54 years, and knowing that he could do it.
Credit to everyone who told him he couldn't do it, because it gave him fuel for the fire. For him to receive both of us here in this organization and trust that we were here for him means a lot. It means a lot to have someone like that, someone who's been handed the keys to the city and was willing to open the door for both of us to join him.
Q. You've sat in this seat before with a celebration behind you, but it wasn't for you.
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Yes.
Q. How much did those experiences help you, being in Minnesota, reaching the Conference Finals, thinking you'd made it and then having to go through defeat before winning?
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: It builds you as a man. The things I thought I wanted and the timing I thought they should happen, weren't meant for me.
But when it had to happen in God's time, it happened. So it's a testament to my life, to believing in faith, believing in God, knowing that my moment was going to come, but it was going to be in His time, not mine.
I just kept my head down. I kept working. I kept getting back up when people pushed me down, threw me in the mud and told me I wasn't good enough. I just kept believing in myself. I believed in my work. I believed in my life. I believed in my support system. I kept pushing and I kept putting, like I said, my left foot in front of my right. I kept walking down the path God had for me. I kept believing. I never strayed.
Finally I got to the end of that path, where you can see this trophy with your team and the NBA Finals banner behind you.
Q. I don't remember if it was after the first or second game, but you said you really felt your mother's presence and that you were playing with so much fun, like when you were a kid. I'm wondering if you felt her presence here tonight and if this is the most fun you've had with the team this season.
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Yes, of course this is going to be the most fun we've had. We won the ring.
But her presence has always been felt in my life. You always pray to choose the right woman for you, and I know I did with my fiancée. Now I know it even more with that bag; that bag held up. Credit to Woods by Jordyn.
It's crazy, when she passed away, there was so much chaos in my life. Interestingly, my fiancée, who was a friend at the time, was the only person I could call before I went out there and said goodbye to her at the hospital. She and I have a real bond that goes beyond the physical and all that. We have a true friendship that was built from scratch.
I remember always asking her, if that was going to be the last time I saw her physically, to let me feel her spirit at all times. In moments of real pressure and with so much happening, I always feel a calm that comes to me, and it's always her.
It's just beautiful to always feel her arms around me and to always feel her love in my life in so many different ways. So it's a testament. I hadn't felt a woman's love like that until I met my fiancée. It means so much that, in a way, without sounding weird, Jackie Junior could be here celebrating this moment with me.
Yes, it's incredible. It's a truly humbling feeling when you know you've walked the path. I stayed true. Every decision I had to make, I made the right one. It feels good to be in this moment.