The Minnesota Timberwolves won their first game of the season and big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who lost his mother earlier this year to Covid-19, was extremely emotional. During his postgame interview, KAT was in tears when he was given the game ball, which he said he was going to put next to his mother.
via: Complex
Karl-Anthony Towns and his Minnesota Timberwolves opened the season with a win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, marking a return to the sport as the NBA tries to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
Sadly, Towns is one of the many already suffering gravely from the pandemic, losing his mother after she contracted the virus, as well as six additional family members.
During Wednesday night’s game, the Minnesota Timberwolves center snagged a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, awarding him game-ball honors. When asked during a post-game interview with Fox Sports about where he planned to put the game ball, Towns told Marney Gellner he would be putting it with his mother.
“I’m gonna put it next to my mom,” he said. “I’m just happy I got this for her. I told her I wanted to get her this win and get her this ball. I was just happy I was able to get it done.”
"It was heavy. It was different. It's just always different. I'm just happy I got this for her."
An emotional KAT chats with @MarneyGellner after playing his first NBA game since his mother's passing. pic.twitter.com/GB3QTZoOx8
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) December 24, 2020
Towns continued to open up about the emotional impact of losing his mother Jacqueline Towns, who passed on April 13.
“You know what, I don’t even recognize most of my other games and years I’ve played and how I felt those days,” Towns told reporters, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “If I can be honest with ya’ll for a second, I mean, I don’t really recall or really care. I only understand what happened from April 13 on.”
Jacqueline was hospitalized due to health complications after contracting the coronavirus. Towns later had to make the difficult decision to remove her from life support.
“Because you may see me smiling and stuff, but that Karl died on April 13. He’s never coming back I don’t remember that man,” he added. “You’re talking to the physical me, but my soul has been killed off a long ago.”
Here’s the full quote from KAT when asked about how the team’s game-to-game mindset compared to previous seasons pic.twitter.com/5cXuk4Gj7X
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) December 24, 2020
Towns’ heartbreaking comments came on the same day the NBA postponed a season opener between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder because of COVID-19 protocol violations.
We are at 326K deaths in the US of COVID, that’s a lot of families having to carry on and still support family members while they grieve. Praying 2021 brings us better days.
