Karl-Anthony Towns

Wolves Notes: Towns, Edwards, Ownership Fight, Connelly

May 31st, 2024 at 10:02am CST by Arthur Hill

As the Timberwolves deal with the disappointment of a Game 5 blowout that ended their playoff run, the focus now turns to the future and whether the franchise can afford to keep the core of its current team together. Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been the focus of some trade speculation because of his pricey contract, told reporters after Thursday’s game that he wants to stay in Minnesota, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“I’m confident I’ll be able to be here with my brothers and continue what I love to do here at home,” said Towns who has spent his entire nine-year NBA career with the team. “So that’s the plan. Nothing’s changed on my side. I love this city. I love this organization. I love this city. It’s given me my life, me and my family.”

Towns’ $221MM extension will take effect next season, paying him roughly $49.4MM, $53.3MM and $57.3MM over the next three years with a $61.2MM player option for 2027/28. With an expensive roster around him and an unsettled ownership situation, there’s no guarantee the Wolves will be willing to keep Towns and deal with the second tax apron restrictions that will result.

Towns refused to comment on the team’s financial situation following Game 5.

“That’s not for me to worry about,” he said. “My job is to go out there every day and do something this summer in the offseason and continue to take steps forward in my game and my mentality not only as a player but as a person too.”

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Anthony Edwards wasn’t discouraged by the loss, promising that the Wolves will be ready for another long playoff run next season, McMenamin adds. Edwards, who had three 40-point games in the playoffs, believes the organization has a bright future after reaching the conference finals for the first time in 20 years. “It’s a lot of our guys’ first time being in this light, especially me. It’s my first time,” he said. “But we’ll be ready, man. We’ll be all right. First time. Took a loss. Congratulations to the Mavericks. But we’ll be back. We’ll be all right.”
A three-person arbitration panel has been selected to oversee the ownership dispute, but there are no signs of a quick resolution, according to Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania of The Athletic. Arena sources tell the authors that the bitter feelings between current majority owner Glen Taylor and prospective owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have intensified, reporting that Taylor tried to approach the duo several times during the playoffs and even attempted to hug Rodriguez, but was turned away.
President of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who has an opt-out clause in his contract, will have to make a decision on his future before the ownership situation is settled, Krawczynski and Charania add. They note that Lore and Rodriguez led the recruiting pitch that convinced Connelly to leave Denver, and he joined the Wolves with the expectation of eventually working for them. Sources tell the authors that Minnesota was very concerned about the Pistons making a huge offer to lure Connelly away before they opted to make Trajan Langdon their new head of basketball operations.

Wolves Notes: Towns, Edwards, Finch, Anderson

May 29th, 2024 at 8:17am CST by Luke Adams

No Timberwolves player had more points (29), rebounds (10), or assists (9) in Game 4 on Tuesday than Anthony Edwards, but the fourth-year shooting guard told reporters, including Dave McMenamin of ESPN, that teammate Karl-Anthony Towns deserved credit for the victory that saved the club’s season. Towns, who struggled immensely during the first three games of the series, scored 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting (4-of-5 threes) and was a game-high +15.

“Everything came together for him; he was super confident,” Edwards said. “He played exceptionally well, and he came through big-time. He was the reason we won tonight.”

Head coach Chris Finch, who said after Game 3 that Towns’ shooting woes were “hard to watch at times,” praised the star big man for bouncing back, referring to the performance as a “great step” for him.

“KAT’s a great player,” Finch said, per McMenamin. “His struggles were not going to last forever. He got himself going. Even when he got deep in foul trouble, we left him out there. … Just let him roll, and he played smart, played under control, rebounded really well for us, executed defensively. Really proud of him.”

Here’s more on the Wolves, who still trail Dallas by a 3-1 margin in the Western Conference finals:

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, who is still recovering from knee surgery, is off his crutches and came onto the court in the third quarter on Thursday to object to the fifth foul call on Towns, earning a technical foul of his own in the process. As Sam Amick of The Athletic writes, Finch was looking to “inject emotion” into the game by earning that tech and then taking over the team’s huddles for the first time since he injured his knee a month ago. “He fired us all up,” Naz Reid told Amick. “He’s doing that, and he’s bringing that energy, so it’s like, ‘We ain’t got no choice.’ It’s definitely special and huge to see him that engaged, and that in the moment. So everybody’s excited for that. I mean, you see he’s limping and it doesn’t matter. He’s still gonna keep going.”
Kyle Anderson logged a series-high 25 minutes in the Game 4 win, and while he had more fouls (3) than points (2), he made the most of his increased role by adding four assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Anderson was also an important factor in a crucial late-game possession, directing Towns to the corner and then making sure Edwards knew he was open for a three-pointer (Twitter video link). “I was dribbling the ball. I damn sure was about to shoot it,” Edwards said of the play, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “And I seen him pointing at big fella, and I’m like ‘OK, cool.’ Big fella, he done cashed out.”
After struggling in clutch situations throughout the series, the Timberwolves came up big down the stretch on Tuesday, holding onto a slim lead in the game’s final minutes as Edwards consistently made the right decisions on offense, writes Zach Harper of The Athletic.
While the Wolves remain a long shot to come back and win the series, it bodes well for the franchise going forward that Edwards and Towns performed so well in an elimination game in late May, notes Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune.

Wolves Notes: Game 4, Anderson, Clutch Situations, Towns

May 28th, 2024 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday, Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune acknowledges that the odds of the Timberwolves mounting a comeback and winning the series over Dallas are extremely long, but stresses that they’re not zero — even if no team is NBA history has ever advanced after facing a 3-0 deficit.

The first two games of the series were decided by a single possession and the Wolves had the lead in Game 3 with five minutes to play, so it’s not as if they haven’t been competitive. Souhan suggests that playing Kyle Anderson more following the forward’s solid performance on Sunday makes sense for Minnesota.

Souhan also points out that the team could regain an advantage in the frontcourt with Dereck Lively not expected to be available for Game 4 due to a neck injury. The Mavericks had a +14.7 net rating in Lively’s 63 minutes on the court during the first three games of the series, compared to a -6.9 mark in the 81 minutes he didn’t play.

For their part, the Wolves’ players are trying to avoid thinking about winning four games and instead focus on winning one, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.

“It stays in the belief department right now,” Mike Conley said. “Just, mentally believing that it’s one game. Just one game. Get one, bring it back to Minnesota and give ourselves a chance in this series. We’re more than capable of doing that.”

Here’s more on the Wolves ahead of a must-win Game 4:

The Mavericks’ superiority over the Wolves in clutch situations was foreshadowed in a January game in which Dallas closed out the fourth quarter on a 15-2 run after trailing by six points with four minutes to play, Hine writes for The Star Tribune. According to Hine, Minnesota had the league’s worst net rating in clutch situations from that night through the end of the regular season.
There will be a “reckoning” this summer in Minnesota if Karl-Anthony Towns – who is shooting 27.8% in the series vs. the Mavericks – doesn’t turn things around before the Timberwolves are eliminated, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com. As great as the season has been, the Wolves’ financial situation going forward may be untenable due to the big raises coming for Towns, Anthony Edwards, and Jaden McDaniels, which will push team salary above the second tax apron. Of the club’s high-priced players, KAT is the one whose future in Minnesota appears least certain.
John Hollinger of The Athletic shares some thoughts on the Timberwolves/Mavericks series, observing that Anderson has been Minnesota’s most effective defender against Luka Doncic. It could benefit the Wolves to lean more into that matchup, Hollinger writes, but it’s tricky to play Anderson alongside Rudy Gobert due to the lack of shooting and spacing. Hollinger also takes a closer look at Towns’ struggles, noting that three-point inaccuracy has been an issue but that the big man is also having trouble scoring inside against a stifling Dallas defense.

Wolves Notes: Towns, Defense, Edwards, Gobert

May 27th, 2024 at 11:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Karl-Anthony Towns has been misfiring throughout the Western Conference Finals, but his shooting struggles were particularly painful in Sunday’s Game 3 loss, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Towns, who finished with 14 points, shot just 5-of-18 from the field and 0-of-8 from three-point range. He missed all four of his attempts in the final five minutes, including three from beyond the arc, as Minnesota’s offense collapsed down the stretch.

“He struggled, of course,” coach Chris Finch said at his post-game press conference. “It was hard to watch at times.”

The Wolves haven’t been able to keep up with Dallas’ high-powered attack while getting limited production from one of their prime scoring threats. Towns is shooting 27.8% in the series, which McMenamin notes is the fourth-worst mark of any player through the first three games of a conference or divisional finals in the shot clock era (minimum 50 shot attempts).

“I’ve got to laugh,” Towns said. “I’m putting up to 1,500 shots a day. Shot so well all playoffs, confidence extremely high. To be having these unfortunate bounces and these looks that are just not going in, it’s tough. It’s tough, for sure. I’m good confidence wise. Just got to keep shooting.”

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Towns’ poor shooting and questionable decision-making in the series raise questions about whether he should be part of the team’s long-term future, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Towns’ four-year, $221MM extension kicks in next season, likely pushing Minnesota into second apron territory and limiting its options for improving the roster.
Towns’ three-point shooting and the league’s top-ranked defense have carried Minnesota all season, but neither has been effective in the conference finals, observes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Whether Finch has tried to guard Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving straight up or blitz them with an extra defender, the Mavericks‘ play-makers always seem to have an answer. Finch has also experimented with his big-man rotation, benching Towns for Naz Reid late in Game 2 and sitting out Rudy Gobert for more than nine minutes in Sunday’s fourth quarter.
The Mavericks’ edge in experience and the individual brilliance of Doncic and Irving have been too much for Minnesota to handle, notes Sam Amick of The Athletic. Even though the Wolves were locked in a season-long battle for the top record in the West, it’s rare for teams to win titles when their best player is still early in his career. “We’ve got (Anthony Edwards), who’s 22, and Dwayne Wade won a championship at that age,” Gobert said. “(Wade) was the guy, but he was surrounded by some other veterans who helped him grow. I think that’s the way I feel about our team. Ant is not in his prime yet, but he’s still (capable of leading a title team). For him, it’s about learning every day, being willing to learn and grow, and he’s done that. Sometimes the pain of losing is the best lesson, but I think we’ve had some of that. I think we’ve had enough of that. Now it’s ‘Let’s win it.’”

Wolves Notes: Shooting, Edwards, KAT, Gobert

May 25th, 2024 at 11:09am CST by Tristan Tucker

Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards took the NBA world by storm through the first two rounds of the playoffs, helping Minnesota achieve its first conference championship appearance in 20 years. However, his shot isn’t falling through two games against Dallas and it has resulted in an 0-2 hole for the team that knocked off the defending champs, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski writes.

On Friday, Edwards had as many turnovers as field-goal attempts (two) in the fourth quarter and produced a shooting line of 29.4% (5-of-17). In his last three games, Edwards is shooting just 29.8% from the field. Karl-Anthony Towns is slumping too, shooting just 27.8% from the field in the first two games of the series compared to his 51.7% clip in the first two rounds.

As Krawczynski writes, it’s as simple as the Mavs’ stars showing up while Minnesota’s haven’t. If Edwards and Towns had shot at replacement level in the first two games, the Wolves’ outlook might be different, considering they’ve lost both games by a combined four points. That’s one key reason why Minnesota’s stars aren’t hitting the panic button yet.

“I don’t think anybody in the locker room is panicking,” Edwards said. “I hope not. Just come out and play our brand of basketball. We let ‘em make a run.”

To their credit, the Wolves are 5-1 on the road this postseason and weathered the storm of Denver winning three straight games just last round.

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Towns played 25 minutes in Game 2, making four of his 16 shot attempts. He was benched for the final 8:40 of the fourth quarter (hat tip to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin) while Naz Reid played the entire fourth quarter and registered 23 points off the bench. “I’m with winning, so whatever it takes to win,” Towns said. “Naz has it going. Coach’s decision, I’m fully supportive of my coaching staff. Wouldn’t question them one bit. Of course, I’m always going to be ready to play whenever he calls. Naz got it going, our team was playing well.”
While the Wolves themselves don’t seem to be worried, Edwards’ shooting calls into question whether Minnesota can win a title if the All-NBA guard isn’t shooting at his peak, The Star Tribune’s Jim Souhan writes (subscriber link). “He’s got to get more in transition,” head coach Chris Finch said. “He’s got to get out [and run]. … I thought he started the game with a great burst, was really going downhill well. That really phased out as the game went along. He went in there a few times. I thought he could do it more. I thought he turned down some open looks, too.“
Rudy Gobert made the critical mistake of allowing Luka Doncic to get the step back he was seeking on his game-winning shot, Tony Jones of The Athletic writes. When Gobert reacted strongly to Doncic’s first step, it gave the Mavs superstar all the space he needed to get his shot off. Jones writes that it’s disappointing because Gobert has been exceptional in the playoffs and has defended similar shots from Doncic before.

Timberwolves Notes: Late-Game Slide, Conley, Defense, Edwards

May 23rd, 2024 at 10:55am CST by Dana Gauruder

A lack of composure down the stretch cost the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Mavericks, head coach Chris Finch lamented after Wednesday’s game.

“It cost us a game in the Denver series. It certainly had an impact on this game, too,” Finch said, per Jon Krawcznyski of The Athletic said. “We’ve got to be better in clutch moments.”

Despite the Timberwolves’ size, they were manhandled in the paint, Krawczynski notes. Dallas outscored them 62-38 in the lane and out-rebounded them, 48-40.

“I’ve got to do a better job on the rebounds,” Rudy Gobert said. “I can’t let these guys just get offensive rebounds. I’ll be better.”

In a similar vein, Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns looked lethargic.

“We didn’t play with enough energy,” Towns said. “We just looked tired. We didn’t move as well as we usually do.”

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Mike Conley believes the team will benefit from its late-game slide, when it was outscored 10-3 in the final 3:37, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Minnesota also committed half of its 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter. “I think we haven’t been tested like this where we’ve had to trade basket to basket, late-game free throw situations or fouling situations, stuff that we have to be better at,” Conley said. “But we’ll learn from it. I think each game we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, a lot we can get better at. Obviously, it’s going to be a long series, regardless of what happened tonight.”
While the Timberwolves faced major defensive challenges in the first two series against Phoenix and Denver, finding a way to control Dallas’ dynamic duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic presents their toughest task in these playoffs, Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines. The two star guards combined for 63 points in Game 1.
In a comprehensive feature, The Athletic’s Krawczynski and Joe Vardon detail how Edwards is poised to become the NBA’s next major American-born star.

Wolves Notes: Towns, Edwards, Gobert, McDaniels, Finch

May 20th, 2024 at 9:11am CST by Luke Adams

While Anthony Edwards had been the Timberwolves‘ engine and leading scorer during their 2024 playoff run, it was the team’s other former No. 1 overall pick – Karl-Anthony Towns – who keyed Sunday’s 20-point comeback in Denver and put up the biggest stat line of the night (23 points, 12 rebounds, and a pair of steals).

As Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune writes, Towns has long been “a symbol of Wolves underachievement, fairly or not,” so it’s fitting that his contributions were crucial in getting the team past the defending champions and into the Western Conference finals.

“I couldn’t be more happy and proud of him,” head coach Chris Finch said of Towns after the victory. “Because I think he’s faced a lot of unfair criticism when it comes to the postseason. The more you go through these things, the more at peace you are … KAT was really special, especially in the second half. I think you see how at peace and happy he is.”

“I’ve been here nine years, talked about wanting to win and do something special here for the organization,” Towns said, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “All of the failures and all the things that materialized and happened, the disappointment that comes with it led to this moment.”

Edwards, meanwhile, put up a solid line of 16 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists, but he made just 6-of-24 shots from the floor. He expressed appreciation after the win that Towns and the other six Wolves players who saw action in Sunday’s Game 7 helped make up for his poor shooting night.

“It was tough, man, because I couldn’t find myself, my rhythm tonight,” Edwards said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “So, I just had to trust my teammates. … I just had to make the right plays throughout the rest of the game. I did that, and my teammates made shots. Big shoutout to those guys.”

Here’s more on the Wolves, who are headed to the Western Conference finals for just the second time in franchise history:

Like Towns, Rudy Gobert has faced criticism over the years for his lack of playoff success, most recently after Game 5 when Nikola Jokic had a 40-point game and made 8-of-9 shots with Gobert as his primary defender. However, as McMenamin writes, Gobert scored eight of his 13 points on Sunday in the fourth quarter, including an improbable turnaround fadeaway with the shot clock running down (video link). He also led a stifling defensive effort that saw Denver score just 37 points on 35.9% shooting in the second half. As Sam Amick of The Athletic points out, the Wolves are +111 in the playoffs with Gobert on the court, which is the best mark of any player on the roster.
Jaden McDaniels matched Towns with a team-high 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting in Game 7 and earned major praise from Edwards for the role he has played so far in the postseason. “Jaden McDaniels was the MVP of the last two series,” Edwards told reporters (Twitter video link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype). McDaniels signed a five-year extension with Minnesota last fall — it will go into effect this July, bumping his salary from $3.9MM to $22.6MM.
Edwards also lauded Finch for the role he has played in the Wolves’ success this season and this spring, per Amick. “It starts with our head coach — Coach Finch,” Edwards said. “He comes in every day, comes to work, gets there early. He’s thinking of ways to get me and KAT open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Mike (Conley) and Rudy open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Jaden involved. He’s trying to keep Naz (Reid) in it to get him involved. He’s just a great coach. And he don’t sugarcoat anything with anybody. If KAT’s f—in’ up, he’s going to get on KAT. If I’m f—in’ up, he’s going to get on me. If Rudy f—in’ up, he’s going to get on anybody that’s messing up throughout the game, and I think that’s what makes him the best coach in the NBA, to me.”
The Timberwolves ownership battle, which is headed to arbitration, has taken a back seat during the team’s playoff run. “Only dysfunctional ownership can break up this team,” one team executive told ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Wolves Notes: Conley, Finch, Towns, Edwards

May 18th, 2024 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mike Conley will have a chance to make a new Game 7 memory on Sunday, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. The Timberwolves‘ veteran point guard is still bothered by how the series ended when he and Rudy Gobert faced the Nuggets as members of the Jazz in a 2020 seventh game in the Orlando bubble. Conley had an opportunity to give Utah a dramatic victory, but his three-point shot at the buzzer misfired.

“I’ve replayed it a lot,” he said. “Having that opportunity to win a Game 7 like that and not be able to make the shot was tough. Now here we are in a similar situation, where we get to play the same team, a lot of the same guys. So for me, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Hopefully this will turn out different.”

Conley plans to be ready despite being listed as questionable with a right soleus strain that kept him out of Game 5. He was able to return for Thursday’s contest and said he feels better now than he did that night. He wants to be on the court so he can put to rest the bad memories from four years ago.

“It’s hard to escape it,” Conley said. “You find that clip every now and then. Sometimes it comes across the phone. I don’t actively search it — I don’t want to bring up that memory too much. But at the same time, it’s something that I’ve thought about at workouts and I think about if I’m having a tough day in a workout missing a certain shot. I’m like, ‘Nah, I got to make this because I might be in this situation again.'”

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Injured head coach Chris Finch said he and lead assistant Micah Nori have developed an effective system as the series has worn on, Hine adds in the same piece. Finch can’t roam the sidelines after suffering a ruptured patella tendon in the first round, so he and Nori have to be selective about when they communicate. “Couple games ago, he was looking at me or to me a lot,” Finch said. “I just said, you can’t do that, we’re losing some possessions maybe here and there. Just trust your gut. He’s got 30 years of experience. So use it.”
Karl-Anthony Towns only scored 10 points in Game 6, but he sparked Minnesota’s blowout by doing all the things his critics say he can’t do, observes Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune. Towns served as the primary defender against Nikola Jokic, grabbed seven rebounds by the end of the first quarter and made the right passes in the offense.
Teammates raved about Anthony Edwards‘ maturation int0 a leader after Game 6, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. As the Wolves pulled away, Edwards implored the team to avoid any letdown that would allow Denver to get back into the game. “Just the way he’s grown from, I always say my second year, his rookie year, just from the way he’s grown as a basketball player and that person,” Naz Reid said. “It’s completely night and day.”

Wolves Notes: Conley, Edwards, Towns, McDaniels

May 17th, 2024 at 9:04am CST by Luke Adams

Facing elimination on Thursday, the Timberwolves turned in arguably the most dominant performance of any team this postseason, holding the Nuggets to 70 points on the night and going on separate 20-0, 13-0, and 24-0 runs en route to a 45-point victory. What was the difference for Minnesota? According to Anthony Edwards, the answer was simple, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“We got Mike Conley back,” Edwards said of his backcourt mate, who missed Game 5 due to a right soleus strain. “That was it.”

It’s a little reductive to give Conley full credit for the Wolves’ incredible performance. After all, he was also on the floor for the team’s home losses in Games 3 and 4. But Minnesota’s players and coaches have spoken all season about the outsized impact the veteran point guard – who was the team’s fifth-leading scorer during the season – has on the Wolves.

“Mike means everything for us,” head coach Chris Finch said after Game 6. “Unbelievable next to Anthony in terms of being able to set him up, play off of him, be in his ear all of the time. Smart defender. Just everything you want in an experienced, veteran point guard and just the very fact that Ant doesn’t have to handle it every single time, that alone helps us. … We desperately missed him the other night.”

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As Sam Amick of The Athletic details, several Timberwolves players credited a video the coaching staff showed prior to Game 6 for helping the club regain its swagger and get in the right head space heading into Thursday’s contest. “Normally we have a (film) edit, just with certain offensive possessions This edit was more of a production, one of those that show all the big dunks and highlights and the ball movement and with music behind it,” Conley said. “It was a surprise. We’ll usually see the defensive stuff and offensive stuff, but this time they plugged it up to the big speaker. We normally don’t have anything plugged into the big speakers, just the (film) and coach will be talking over it. But this was more of a change-our-mentality sort of thing.” Edwards told reporters that the team’s “energy shifted” after watching the hype video, while Karl-Anthony Towns said it reminded the Wolves of the “discipline, the execution, (and) the tenacity” that they’d been lacking in their losses.
Edwards – who said on Thursday that he wants to be “the best player on both sides of the ball in the NBA,” per McMenamin – was the primary defender on Jamal Murray in Game 6. It was a miserable night for the Nuggets guard, who scored just 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting, though Murray suggested after the loss that a right elbow injury he suffered early in the game was more to blame for his off night. “I put some numbing cream on it just so I didn’t have to feel it every time it extended,” Murray said, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “… We got two days off. I just got to get ready and be able to be better for Sunday. Yeah, (it’s got) to be better for Sunday, man.”
Towns scored a playoff-low 10 points on Thursday, but his fingerprints were “all over” Minnesota’s Game 6 win, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic contends. Towns grabbed 13 rebounds, handed out five assists, only turned the ball over once, and – perhaps most crucially – stayed out of foul trouble while defending Nikola Jokic. “I told him today, ‘We’re thankful that you didn’t foul because if you foul we lose,'” Edwards said. “Because you are the best matchup we’ve got for Jokic. Like, you do the best job on him.”
After making just 2-of-12 three-pointers and scoring a total of 35 points in the first five games of the series, Jaden McDaniels hit 3-of-5 threes and scored 21 points on Thursday. Chip Scoggins of The Star Tribune takes a closer look at the impact that the Wolves’ “X-factor” had in the victory.

Wolves Notes: Conley, Confidence, Maturity, Jokic, Gobert, NAW

May 16th, 2024 at 2:40pm CST by Rory Maher

Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley was ruled out for Tuesday’s Game 5 with a right soleus strain and is officially questionable for tonight’s Game 6. However, the 36-year-old plans to suit up, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).

After Game 5, head coach Chris Finch said the team was optimistic Conley could return for Game 6, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “We’re hopeful Mike can go in Game 6,” Finch said. “That was one of the reasons to be cautious with him right here, feeling that he could go [on Thursday].”

Conley’s leadership and steady hand in the backcourt have buoyed Minnesota throughout the team’s 56-win season, writes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. The 36-year-old also understands his window of opportunity is shrinking, and the same may be true of the Wolves in the series.

“I’m one of those people, I don’t want to learn through losing,” Conley said. “I don’t want to learn by letting a team win a couple games in a series to make us change some things. Why don’t we, in games, figure this out? We’re good enough to do this. I don’t have time for it, y’all don’t have time for it.”

Conley, who signed a two-year extension during the season, played 76 regular season games in ’23/24 and is the team’s top on-ball decision-maker.

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Despite dropping three straight games for the first time all season, the Timberwolves remain confident as they look to stave off elimination against Denver in Thursday’s Game 6, according to McMenamin of ESPN. “Adversity has been something we’ve answered all year,” All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns said. “It’s something that if I was to go through this with anyone, I would go through it with these guys in this locker room. I have full confidence in these guys, I have full confidence in our locker room, I have confidence in our coaching staff. Everyone has been tremendous all year. It’s now time to put all that experience and that unity we’ve built throughout the whole year, even last year, and put it on the table and play our best basketball so we can give ourselves a chance to bring back Game 7 here.”
Star guard Anthony Edwards struggled with Denver’s extra defensive pressure in Game 5, but he said he’s looking forward to making up for it tonight in Minnesota, McMenamin adds. “Super excited,” Edwards said. “You get to compete. Get to go home and play with our backs against the wall. It should be fun.” If he’s healthy, Conley’s return should alleviate some double-team pressure from Edwards.
Despite their public proclamations of confidence, the Wolves haven’t dealt with adversity well the past few games, particularly from an emotional maturity standpoint, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (subscriber link). Several players have been guilty of immature moments, which has been an issue for this group the past couple seasons, Hine adds. “I mean, we got to keep our head. I think that’s the story for us,” Rudy Gobert said. “… We have to be mentally tough, individually and collectively, to be able to keep playing our game and not let anything that happened in the game affect the way we play.”
Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic details how three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who is also the reigning Finals MVP for the defending-champion Nuggets, was able to eviscerate four-time Defensive Player of the Year Gobert and Minnesota’s top-ranked defense in Game 5. The Serbian superstar was particularly lethal in the third period, recording 16 points on just seven shot attempts and recording four assists, frequently while intentionally hunting Gobert. John Hollinger of The Athletic contends that Jokic’s remarkable performance — 40 points on 15-of-22 shooting, 13 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and a block with zero turnovers — isn’t being discussed enough.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker has become an unlikely X-factor for the Wolves, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. The former first-round pick was traded three times in quick succession but has turned into a defensive stopper and a leader for Minnesota, Lopez notes.
Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune argues that if the Wolves are eliminated by the Nuggets, they shouldn’t blow up the big man pairing of Towns and Gobert. Souhan also says the team should replace Kyle Anderson with another three-point shooter to improve the offense, which has been the primary issue over the past three games.

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