NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 7, 2026

Karl-Anthony Towns

New York Knicks

Practice Day

Q. What kind of insanity are you expecting tomorrow night? Also, there's a lot of talk about sports being in one bucket and politics in another. What do you make of the President's attendance for Game 3?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: I expect our fans to come out and do what they do every game, which is come and support us at the highest level. I'm really excited to play. It's always great when you get to play the game of basketball at its highest level.

To be able to lace the shoes up, be able to put the jersey on and be able to see our fans, to see Finals basketball after all this time is going to be really, really special.

Q. Obviously there's been a lot of attention on your matchup with Wemby. How has that been as a challenge and how do you feel like you're doing so far?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: It's great when you get to go against a great player, a player that I've spoken about countless times that is going to be a generational player. It's something we've never seen in the NBA before. So to be able to go and play in this moment against the best is all you could ask for.

I think for us, to be in this position right now at 2-0, speaks to our team, the resiliency, grit, what we've been able to do collectively as a group to put ourselves in this position, and to be coming home here with that kind of success.

Q. It's been a great team effort offensively to win these first two games. But of course Jalen has come up huge in the clutch in both games. What's his offensive superpower that makes him so hard to guard in those situations?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: He has great footwork. His footwork when he gets into the paint and his ability to manipulate the offense and be deceptive in his dribbling and his attack and his pull-up game as well, it truly makes him tough to guard.

Then when he finally gets into the paint he uses physicality to create space, to get his floater off or to get to a scoop layup.

So his ability, his footwork with his touch around the rim, obviously makes him a tough matchup for anybody.

Q. With the Spurs being down 0-2, now coming here, what do you expect from them in terms of physicality, intensity? What are you expecting them to bring?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: I mean, their best. Every single game you expect their best. That's how you don't get caught in a way lacking. You go out there and you expect their best, so you want to bring your best.

This is the NBA Finals. There's no time to take any game easy or to take any game lightly.

Q. I've been following you ever since college. I have seen a change in your game, but being effective. Can you take us through what changed in your mind and how you pick certain spots in the game and for the benefit of the team?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Yeah, just it's about impacting winning. Especially this year throughout the year, I've always had to change my role for the betterment of the team. I've always had to change the way I play so it could be most beneficial for the team. Taking all that experience this year, I've had to do it on the fly. It wasn't like game by game. It's been quarter by quarter. That comes with experience and just knowledge of the game and just time. Time playing the game, time putting shots up, time reading defenses, seeing defenses, offenses.

So like I said, one game Jalen got hurt, that's when I have to be a primary scorer. Other games when he's cooking, I got to be a facilitator, a hub, assist maker, aggressive in playmaking. Then there's games when I need to do both when he's in and I'm in and be able to do both when his shot is warming up.

There's also days where I got to be a decoy, I got to be the best screener, I got to be the best spacer for our offense.

So I think that right now, whatever it takes to win, especially when you're in the NBA Finals, I'm willing to do.

Q. You guys are obviously on quite a heater right now in terms of wins in a row. Curious what that feels like, being that locked in, and do you remember if there was a moment where you guys kind of flipped a switch or something happened that kind of has ignited this run?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: Just us being together, being down 2-1 [in the first round], I think that understanding where we were and what the situation was and I think in a way just having that kind of understanding and desperation that comes with being in the playoffs and trying to win at the highest level.

I think also, too, we always talk about the unity and camaraderie of this team. We don't ever want to put ourselves in that position again. So just every single day coming to the court, coming to the game with that kind of desperation, that kind of will to not be in a 2-1 situation again and not put ourselves in a bad spot, maybe I think that's what's led us to this point of, like you said, being on a heater. But just not looking forward in the future at all and not looking at the past. Just staying in the present. We talk about 0-0 mentality, that's a real thing in our locker room and that's how we approach every game.

Q. [Question from Jeremiah Fears] How do you feel about being probably the best 3-point shooting big in the NBA?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: It's an honor. I worked on my game. When I was younger, that wasn't something that was supposed to happen. You're laughed at. You're told, What are you doing? You're wasting your time. You're never going to make it to college doing that.

Just like you understand, a lot of people are going to tell you no, what they think you need to do to make it to the NBA, to do all these things. But at the end of the day, you got to walk on your own path, write your own story. And that's what I did.

I continue to work on my game, continue to work on my shot. Now, as you understand, people come back to me and give me all the congrats and congratulations and all this love for something they didn't help with; they told me to do the opposite.

So that's how life always goes. Everyone's got an opinion until someone actually does the work. Us two, we did the work, and they're going to have to watch our story be written without them having a chapter in it.

Q. As someone who grew up in the area, just wonder if you have any thoughts about the first President to ever come to a Finals game being at the Finals game tomorrow?

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: We got to be desperate for these fans. Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see Finals basketball be played here at Madison Square Garden. For this to be the first game in a long time that they have seen Finals basketball, it's up to us to bring it, give 'em something to cheer for, give 'em something to get loud for and also give 'em something to believe in.

I talked about the word "hope." Hope has been brought back to the city. We've revitalized that word. But the word "success" hasn't been seen in this city for a long time. So we have to continue to fight to bring that word back to fruition.