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The New York Knicks secured a 109-97 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night, fueled by a dominant showing from Karl-Anthony Towns. The 30-year-old center posted 29 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks, connecting on 11 of 21 shots from the floor (52.4%) and 2 of 4 from three-point range (50.0%).
Following the victory, Towns joined Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier for a courtside interview. The conversation turned to his rebounding prowess and the moment in his career when he stopped obsessing over scoring and began focusing on whatever it takes to win—which, on this night, meant controlling the glass.
"It's a sexy stat to me—that damn sure looks sexy to me," Towns said with a smile. He credited his father for instilling his rebounding mentality. "My father always told me that if you don't give opponents a second chance at a shot, and you're an offensive player who gets that second shot, it's like a two-for-one special; you see the rim, and it feels like it gets bigger. You shoot the ball with a lot more confidence when you get the second chance."
Towns elaborated on how his rebounding benefits the team's overall confidence. "Being able to make sure that our team doesn't give them any second chances and also, for us on offense, giving my teammates the confidence that they can shoot with confidence and know that whatever happens, I'm going to be right next to the rim getting us the rebound and a second chance at it," he explained. "Rebounding, to me, is about establishing the confidence of this team to shoot the ball with full confidence and allowing them to understand that, regardless of the result, if you take care of the process and do your best with your jumper or your finishing, your teammate has your back."
When Breen followed up by asking about his shift from scorer to winner, Towns offered a powerful message aimed at young players. "When I was younger, you want to establish yourself in the league; you want to show people that, as kids say today, that he's nice, you want to show them that you're nice at this game; you want to show them all the skills you've worked so hard to establish. A lot of young guys, especially me when I was young too, wanted to prove myself to everybody," he said. "And as you get older and older, you realize that all those times you were trying to prove everything to people, you're never going to make everybody happy. So you've gotta go out there, and there's only one thing that shuts up all the criticism, and all the haters and everyone, and gives them tough, long, long, sleepless nights, is winning."
Towns acknowledged that learning to win at the NBA level is a process. "It took time to learn how to win at this level. This is the best of the best playing basketball in the NBA. Winning at this level is very different than college, HS, CYO, or AAU. It takes a lot of time, a lot of wisdom, and a lot of experience," he noted. "When you finally get to that point of stopping trying to prove yourself to everyone, just bring the best version of yourself to the court, and you start realizing and changing your mindset to that, you're proving a lot of people wrong. That's how you prove to people that you're going out there and impacting winning, or impacting your team in a positive way, whether it's basketball, baseball, football, whatever; think about impacting winning. You take a lot of pressure off yourself, and you find yourself being the player that you've always wanted to be."
Key Analysis
Towns' journey reflects a significant evolution. Drafted into the NBA, he spent at least a five-year stretch as the undisputed face of the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise. However, through experiences alongside stars like Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, and now Jalen Brunson in New York, he has come to appreciate the value of ball movement and off-ball contributions that drive winning, subordinating personal goals to team needs. His postgame comments underscore a mature perspective that he hopes the next generation will embrace: true success comes from impacting victories, not just filling the stat sheet.
The win lifted the defending champion Knicks to 5-4 on the season, marking the first time they have been above .500 this year. They will return home to face the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, November 10.
Originally reported by yahoo.