“KAT is the centerpiece of what we’re trying to do here. Obviously, when he has foul issues, that doesn’t help us.”
Patrick Beverley did his best to try to evacuate the “Karl-Anthony Towns problem” during his visit to the press conference. Brilliant in the regular season, the interior of Minnesota fell through three times in its first four postseason games, once morest the Clippers and then the Grizzlies, with repeated foul problems that torpedoed his team’s plans.
Deprived of rhythm
Until now, Karl-Anthony Towns had suffered from the lack of alternation in Minnesota’s game. Now that the team has done what is necessary to place D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards alongside him, he cannot fade away like this. In matches with such intensity, Wolves cannot see their leader struggle at this point.
“They attack him from everywhere, to take him at three in the low post, to defend hard on him at the head of the racket. We have to find it in the rhythm of the game, that’s how it has to work. When they took it two, we had good positions but we did not put our shots., pointed out Chris Finch. “We talk to him. It’s the offensive fouls that hurt us the most. These are the ones we must avoid”.
The player’s prolonged outings also penalize him in terms of pace, beyond the fact that his offensive production also takes a hit (only 11 shots taken in the last two games in total).
We have thus seen him commit gross errors of placement, and even inattention, as when he hindered Jarred Vanderbilt on the rebound in the second half, to finally concede a stupid ball loss. Amazing sequences which also result from a lack of rhythm caused by his repeated outings.
“I tried to do my best to have an impact on the game”, did he slip following the meeting before discussing his recurring foul problems. “I even stopped penetrating from the outside to avoid any possible fault. You just have to manage to get out of this adversity, honestly. That’s really it, and staying together, remembering what got us here, believing in what we’ve done all season, despite the ups and downs like in this game. This defeat hurts, but we had our share this season, and we always knew how to bounce back. I hope we can do the same”.
Positive even in defeat
Minnesota has not said its last word yet and still has the possibility of tying at 2-2 in the series tonight at home. And despite the frustration of this stunning defeat in Game 3, Karl-Anthony Towns and his troops were also able to take positive lessons from the last game.
“We were up to 26 points ahead. And we made this gap by playing fair. When the duel arrived, you had to make the right choice, find D’Angelo Russell, not force it. In Game 1, I tried a daring pass over my head and it wasn’t a good idea. I learned from that lost ball. Now, when I have the ball in the low post and they take me to two, it’s simple. We even talked regarding it with Kevin Garnett regarding attracting them, even away from other players, I have to return the ball to the head of the key or to the wing and let them put their shots. And we did it well at the start of the match. We have seen what works, we just have to exploit it more”, he added, once once more quoting his glorious predecessor Kevin Garnett in trying to move on. “As KG says: you never lose, you learn”.
| Karl-Anthony Towns | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saison | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2015-16 | MIN | 82 | 32 | 54.3 | 34.1 | 81.1 | 2.8 | 7.7 | 10.4 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 18.3 |
| 2016-17 | MIN | 82 | 37 | 54.2 | 36.7 | 83.2 | 3.6 | 8.7 | 12.3 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 25.1 |
| 2017-18 | MIN | 82 | 36 | 54.5 | 42.1 | 85.8 | 2.9 | 9.4 | 12.3 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 21.3 |
| 2018-19 | MIN | 77 | 33 | 51.8 | 40.0 | 83.6 | 3.4 | 9.0 | 12.4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 24.4 |
| 2019-20 | MIN | 35 | 34 | 50.8 | 41.2 | 79.6 | 2.7 | 8.1 | 10.8 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 26.5 |
| 2020-21 | MIN | 50 | 34 | 48.6 | 38.7 | 85.9 | 2.7 | 7.9 | 10.6 | 4.5 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 24.8 |
| 2021-22 | MIN | 74 | 34 | 52.9 | 41.0 | 82.2 | 2.6 | 7.2 | 9.8 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 24.6 |
| Total | 482 | 34 | 52.8 | 39.7 | 83.3 | 3.0 | 8.3 | 11.3 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 23.2 | |
