After stunningly eliminating the defending NBA champions on the road, the Minnesota Timberwolves now face an unprecedented challenge in NBA history: overcoming a 0-3 deficit in a seven-game series.
In all fairness to the Timberwolves, it’s not entirely their fault. The 5th-seeded Dallas Mavericks, with perennial MVP candidate Luka Doncic and 2016 NBA Champion Kyrie Irving, have been outstanding throughout the postseason. They’ve pulled off upsets in the first two rounds of the NBA Playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Luka and Kyrie have been the best players on the court through the first three games of their Western Conference Finals series against the Timberwolves, positioning them well for a potential NBA Finals appearance. Additionally, Minnesota’s top scorers, Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, have struggled to find their rhythm in this series.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ struggles have been especially problematic, as Anthony Edwards’ defense and playmaking enable him to contribute in other areas, whereas Towns’ effectiveness relies heavily on his scoring ability. So far in the Western Conference Finals, Towns has been shooting a dismal 27 percent from the field, including just 3-for-22 from three-point range.
Following Game 3, where the Timberwolves lost and Towns missed all eight of his three-point attempts, a frustrated KAT admitted he couldn’t identify the reason for his shooting slump. He mentioned that he’s supposedly taking “1,500 shots a day.”
As expected, the Inside The NBA crew had a field day with what is likely an exaggerated claim.
Whether or not Karl-Anthony Towns is exaggerating about the number of shots he’s taking each day is beside the point. What truly matters is that he finds a way to improve his performance, even if it might not be enough to salvage the Timberwolves’ season. His struggles have been so severe that after Game 3, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch remarked, “It was hard to watch at times,” in reference to Towns’ shooting slump (h/t Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com).
The best big man shooter of all time?
Just two and a half years ago, Karl-Anthony Towns caused quite a stir in the league with a bold, yet perhaps justified, statement to The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski.
“I’m the greatest big man shooter of all time. That’s a fact. You can see the stats. I ain’t got to play like no one else. Everyone trying to find themselves to be the second version of me when I’m the first version. I don’t got to be the second version of someone else. I’m already an original. I don’t have to be a duplicate of someone else.”
In this case, the stats do support KAT’s argument. The seven-foot center has a career three-point shooting percentage of 40% on over 4 attempts per game. Even during the 2019-20 to 2020-21 seasons, when his attempts increased to nearly 7 per game, his efficiency remained steady. However, if Towns continues to struggle in crucial moments — having shot just 35% from deep in 30 postseason games so far — his claim as the Greatest Big Man Shooter ever is as credible as the Timberwolves’ chances of overcoming a 0-3 deficit.
