New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns reached out for some divine intervention before a key play in Game 2 of the 2026 NBA Finals.
“I needed a stop,” Towns, 30, joked during a post-game ESPN interview following the Knicks’ 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, June 6.
Towns was shown on camera looking up to the heavens in a dramatic moment before his team’s final defensive play. The Knicks ultimately pulled out a squeaker victory in game 2 when the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama failed to sink a jumper due to Mitchell Robinson’s blocking.
During the post-game interview, Towns clarified that he’d prayed for help from his late mother Jackie Cruz-Towns, who died at age 58 in April 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.
“It’s amazing as you go through life, you lose a parent, you just look for signs. I’ll take any sign I can get and I prayed to her strong before that possession,” he explained. “A great player got a great shot, it just didn’t go in. It’s great defense. Shout-out to Mitch, shout-out to our team. But I take it as a sign my mom was here with me so I appreciate her so much.”
Towns has frequently credited his mom with watching over him throughout the NBA Finals. Before Game 1, Towns told reporters that he “just felt a calm and a peace that I know had to come from the woman above.”
He also speculated on what it would have meant for his mom to see him make it to the NBA Finals because of her own story as an immigrant.
“It means a lot for my mother when she emigrated from DR [Dominican Republic] to New York,” he said. “Saw Madison Square Garden for the first time and saw the energy the city has for MSG and the Knicks.”
Towns revealed in March 2020 that both of his parents had tested positive for COVID-19. While the NBA star’s father, Karl Towns Sr., ultimately recovered, his mother’s health declined and she suffered a stroke.
Following her death, Karl-Anthony shared in a November 2020 vlog that he “pulled the plug” on his late mom when it was clear she would not recuperate.
Karl-Anthony Towns Sarah Stier/Getty Images
“At that moment I pulled the plug and just let her pass,” Towns recalled. “They told me she may be alive another hour, maybe two.”
He remembered that Jackie eventually drifted into unconsciousness as family members spoke to her remotely via video calls.
“She was sent off with laughter,” he noted.
Karl-Anthony confessed at the time that he’d temporarily put his own grief on the back-burner to help his family deal with such an immense loss.
“I think for me, I think if I was to say how am I coping and how am I healing from this, I’m trying to heal myself through others,” he explained. “I’m trying to do as much as I can for my sister and my father. Trying to take care of my friends, and I’m trying to heal myself through them.”
He added, “It’s helped, but I think that one day, and I know it’s creeping up, I feel it every day, it’s gonna creep up and I’m going to have to find a way to deal with it, actually. That’s why I wanted to do this [vlog]. I thought this would be therapeutic for me to admit that these things are real and how I feel is real and being able to try to find some normalcy. Life is a game, and I’m just playing one chess piece at a time.”
Karl-Anthony has experienced much happier times in recent years. In addition to making it to the 2026 NBA Finals, he announced his engagement to Jordyn Woods on Christmas Day in 2025 after five years of dating.