Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns is Tired of Losing

After putting together a career night, Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is the farthest thing from satisfied.

With the expectations breaking through the roof of the Target Center coming into this season, the Minnesota Timberwolves looked like a team ready to break through. Most saw this team having a shot to break their 12 season playoff drought.

With young rising superstars, and a new defensive minded head coach, the bar was set high before the team even touched the floor.

We must remember, this team won 29 games last season. Their 3 best players are under 22 years of age. They are on yet another new coach, with another new scheme and style of play.

Last night’s game was a perfect example of this team having some growing up to do.

Against a middle of the road Knicks team, Karl-Anthony Towns came out ready to show who was the better sophomore big man between Kristaps Porzingis and himself.

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In the first quarter, KAT shot a perfect 8-8, scoring 22 points and grabbing 7 boards. Most players would have been happy to finish a game with those stats. KAT was not satisfied.

The Timberwolves did not follow their normal patterns last night. They actually won the 3rd quarter, along with the 1st and the 4th. It was a epic 2nd quarter collapse that lost them the game. They ended up down 12 in that quarter.

The Timberwolves went on a 22-5 run in the 4th to tie the game. With 24.5 seconds left the Knicks brought the ball up and Carmelo Anthony shot a contested jumper to take the lead. The Timberwolves took a timeout to advance the ball to half court.

At that point, Zach Lavine was inbounding the ball that was intended for Towns but ended up being deflected by Anthony and bobbled around for long enough for the final 2.5 seconds to expire.

As you can see in the clip here, Towns looks sick and tired of loosing. Unfortunately most star plays have never experienced this. They played on the best teams in the nation on high school, as well as college.

Last year can be written off due to growing pains, but after all the hype this team got this offseason, most did not expect the Timberwolves to be 5-13 right now, especially the players.

This was one thing that I was worried about. With the hype they have received, if the success did not come as fast as most predicted, will the young players get tired of the results and a tough Thibodeau coaching style quickly? Let’s hope not.

Towns ended the night with 47 points, 18 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, and 3 steals. He showed that the offense should be ran through him, and when teams adjust for that you kick the ball back out to Wiggins or Lavine to do their thing. It does not help that the Knicks had 45 points from their bench, in comparison to the Timberwolves 5 points. The second unit has been holding this team back, and it might be time to mix it up a little.

After the game Towns looked broken. He is a genuine player, and seems to care more about wins that personal statistics.

When asked if he did enough to help the team win, Towns responded “No.”

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Towns and everyone else needs to realize this team is still growing. Players are not in their peak until age 26-28. These kids are 22. Sad to say, but this is going to take a little longer. Hopefully we see a different team around the start of 2017, but hopefully they aren’t in too deep of a hole.