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). 

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. 

Brown doubled down that Robinson did not suffer a new injury to his left ankle, and that this was always the plan. But that raises plenty of questions — why was the plan for Robinson, who played in the first three preseason games, to see action in the preseason but not the season opener? 

“There’s no definition of what load management is,” Brown said. “You just kind of go along, or myself and the medical team, the front office will go along as we see fit. We’ll decide when we wanna sit him during practice and when we want to sit him during the game. It’s as simple as that.” 

Brown’s first regular-season game as Knicks coach at the Garden began with a greeting from its most famous fan. 

“Spike Lee came over and gave me a hug before the game,” Brown said. “I was like, ‘Spike, do you know who I am?’ ”