Towns and Timberwolves are a reality in the NBA
After a “gray” period in which he had to deal with the death of his mother and several members of his family because of Covid-19, the Kentucky graduate has returned to be the reference that the Minnesota Timberwolves needed to be contenders in the Western Conference.
A couple of seasons ago, precisely that of the pandemic hiatus and part of the one after, KAT had a slump that was reflected in his numbers and, evidently, in those of the Wolves who finished the 2019-20 as the second worst team in the ‘wild west’, only above the Golden State Warriors.
With a record of 19-45 (.297), Minnesota left a bitter taste in each of the duels in which they appeared. Not even at the Target Center did they manage to give satisfaction, finishing with a pathetic 8-24 as a home team.
During that fiscal year (2019-20), KAT, who saw action in 35 games (due to the lockout and the fact that the Wolves were no longer ‘invited’ to the bubble), had high records, but did not have the cast to place his team on higher rungs within his conference.
Something similar happened for the following season in which the T-Wolves started with a rebuild. Among them, the return of Ricky Rubio; in addition, the trade with Oklahoma City Thunder involving pick 17 of the draft, with which OKC selected Aleksej Pokusevski and the Wolves sent to Oklahoma James Johnson, who made valid his player option for 15.8 million dollars.
The Wolves also made an offer to Malik Beasley for $3.9 million, those, among other roster moves and injuries, left KAT ‘unlocked’.
It was precisely in that season, 2020-21, when he posted his worst numbers (to say the least) with 48.6% shooting from the field, 38.7% from beyond the arc, 85.9% from the free throw line and 24.8% points per night during the 50 games in which the Dominican saw action.
However, during the current season, the waters are returning to their course and KAT has regained that level, energy, leadership and prominence on the court that his team needed, in addition to having some henchmen of great future in the League as rookie forward Anthony Edwards and other old ‘wolves’ as D’Angelo Russell and Patrick Beverley, factors for which Towns is approaching career highs.
Through 64 court appearances, Towns is shooting an impressive 52.9% from the field (his third-highest, though the regular season isn’t over yet), 40.8% from three-point range (his fourth-highest), 82.55 from the line (his fifth-best percentage) and averaging 24.9 points per night, his third-best contribution of his career.
This has allowed coach Chris Finch’s team to occupy seventh place in the West with a 41-30 (.577) mark and this time making their stadium a veritable fortress with a 23-12 record and an encouraging 18-18 as visitors and dominating their division with 11-4. A jump that allows them the luxury of seeing favorites like LA Clippers or Los Angeles Lakers fall.
Although for now the Wolves are in Play-in positions, they are only a game and a half behind the Denver Nuggets for the sixth place in the West, so a direct qualification to the Playoffs is more than possible for a franchise that knew how to shelter its star in difficult times and that now is reborn as one of the ‘dark horses’ for the next NBA Playoffs.
