Karl-Anthony Towns has one hell of a day as he plays through quad strain

The bizarre situation surrounding Karl-Anthony Towns ended with him playing a key — and painful — role in the Knicks’ opening-night win. Towns, who revealed that he is dealing with a Grade 2 right quad strain, was downgraded from questionable to doubtful just hours before the Knicks’ 119-11 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.But an hour after being listed as doubtful, he was upgraded back to questionable.

Then he did not warm up prior to the game, but was subsequently in the starting lineup. “It’s been a day for me living in it and for y’all trying to report it,” Towns said.“It’s been one hell of a day.

But I’m glad, in the end, God’s good, we got a win, New York is happy, the fans are happy.I think it’s a great day.” Towns looked like his usual self, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in 31 minutes. “It was hurting,” Towns said of his quad.

“For sure.” He scored seven of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Knicks quickly regain control after the Cavaliers had taken a one-point lead in the third quarter. “It’s not something that’s easy to deal with,” Towns said.“We made it happen tonight.

I thought the fans respected the effort I put in to play tonight and my teammates did, too.So shout out to them supporting me and understanding the situation I was in.” Brown inserted Ariel Hukporti into the starting lineup at center to replace Mitchell Robinson (left ankle injury management).  Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.

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Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! Robinson’s absence is particularly concerning given it likely represents a setback after having undergone two operations on his left ankle in the last two years and missing most of the regular season last year....