Karl Anthony-Towns is scoring from everywhere
KAT put up 60 on Monday night. He's only getting started on a resurgent Timberwolves team.
They’ve been overshadowed, but the Minnesota Timberwolves are playing like an elite team. They’re sixth in offense, 11th in defense, and ninth overall in net rating. Since January 1, they have the third-best net rating in the NBA, and the best offense, scoring more than 118 points per 100 possessions.
This is quite the display from a team that remains in seventh-place in a suddenly-loaded Western Conference. They are led by flame-throwing big man Karl Anthony-Towns, who has emphatically hit his stride. Towns’s best asset is his ability to score efficiently from everywhere on the court.
He’s averaging 24.8 points on 59.1 percent efficiency, taking and making shots from everywhere. Of players with a usage rate of at least 25 percent, Towns is the second-most efficient scorer, behind only Nikola Jokic. He’s a great finisher, converting 67 percent of his attempts in the restricted area, and a versatile scorer around the paint.
Most of all, he’s a deadly shooter; after all, he won the three-point contest this year. He’s shooting 40 percent from downtown, something he does pretty much every year.
When he scored 60 points against the Spurs on Monday night, he showcased all of his scoring prowess. He was burrowing into the lane and drawing a ton of fouls. He was dusting centers off the dribble and finishing through contact. He screened and rolled with purpose and ferocity, and popped for threes whenever possible.
The Spurs had no answer. A Patrick Beverley-KAT pick-and-roll provided fruitful first quarter offense for Minnesota:
Towns is an underrated screen-setter. Like Nikola Jokic, he is clever about positioning his body and probing for angles that will free ball-handlers and open passing lanes. When teams fail to play help defense, like above, Towns can power to the rim. These easier buckets have been more frequent this year for Towns.
Part of the reason his screens are effective is his pick-and-pop threat. At any point, Towns can retreat to the three-point line, a place where other centers are not comfortable playing defense. He weaponizes both his ability to take standstill contested looks and his speed off the dribble.
Watch him glide past Jakob Poeltl after popping to the top of the key:
Poeltl has to honor a drive by the ball-handler, Beverley. That pulls him away from Towns, who hangs back at the three-point line. The Spurs should have someone else ready to help on Towns. Poeltl, worried about the three, closes hard, only for Towns to take advantage by going straight to the hoop.
Towns can muscle through you or run past you. He embarrasses Zack Collins on this out-of-bounds play:
He backs out, then cuts inside for the dunk. Collins is left in the dust.
The Timberwolves have been better about running plays that generate three-point looks for Towns. This hand-off and screen action capitalizes on the Spurs’ uncertainty about when to help. Towns is deadly, and takes advantage with no hesitation:
Watch Devin Vassell, #24 on the Spurs. He doubles Beverley for no reason, leaving Towns open. Ideally, Vassell would recognize that Towns is popping and switch to him, knowing that Poeltl is too far away to make any difference.
But Vassell is a rookie, and these are difficult decisions. Dejounte Murray (#5) stays off of Towns, thinking that Vassell will handle it. Towns introduces these dilemmas for defenses. Even if they made all of these rotations perfectly, the Timberwolves would have been able to hit other, resulting gaps.
Towns is so versatile and efficient as to necessitate this defensive consternation. Defend him well, and you fall victim to a burrowing drive that ends in some soft, impossible floater:
Murray helps that time. Poeltl is putting his body into Towns. It doesn’t matter.
He’s very difficult to guard, and the Timberwolves have found a supporting cast to put around him. No one in the West’s top seven will be a fun playoff opponent.
What else is happening in the NBA?
Pretty much every superstar continues to blow up. Kyrie Irving scored 60 points last night in a Nets annihilation of the Magic. We’re seeing an unprecedented display of scoring outbursts over the past couple of weeks.
Some top draft prospects will be playing in March Madness this week. The top prospects: Chet Holmgren at Gonzaga, Jabari Smith at Auburn, Paolo Banchero at Duke, and Jaden Ivey at Purdue.
Tonight, the Celtics and Warriors play on ESPN. The Warriors have Draymond Green back and were clicking in his return on Monday, a win against the Wizards in which Steph Curry put up 47. The big three plays its second game back together tonight.