Knicks champion Karl-Anthony Towns opens up about grief for World Mental Health Day

NEW YORK (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns has been traded from Minnesota, lost the conference finals and won the NBA title for his childhood team — and still feels he is in the period of grief that began six years ago.Just 10 days before the New York Knicks' banner-raising celebration, the All-Star big man marked World Mental Health Day by sharing his ongoing emotional journey following the death of his mother to complications from COVID-19.Entering the first game of this year's NBA Finals, he said he felt “this very big calm” wash over him. He was taken back to amateur youth games with crowds so small he could spot his mom from anywhere.“I felt like it was kinda just me, her and the game of basketball,” he told the audience gathered Saturday by the nonprofit Project Healthy Minds. “I was able to be like an artist out there. I was able to have my paint brush and have a canvas with the court. And I was able to just paint a beautiful picture for her about the love I have for the game. The love