Karl-Anthony Towns Rose Up When Timberwolves Needed Him Most

As the post game press conference went on, Karl-Anthony Towns talked of the nine years he had spent with the franchise, and how this was a culmination of all those moments combined. He’s seen it all. He was here when Garnett came back. He was drafted and coached by Flip Saunders, who died less than six months after Karl was drafted.

And man, no doubt Flip is looking down smiling on KAT this morning. Last night is something that Saunders dreamed about when the Wolves drafted Towns No. 1 overall in 2015. Even if all the criticism over the years has been warranted, on the biggest stage, for one night, he shouldered the load when his team needed him most.

How Chris Finch lines up the Timberwolves going forward remains to be seen. The Dallas Mavericks are a team that Minnesota has handled throughout the season. They go into the Western Conference Finals as favorites to move onto the NBA Finals.

If that is going to come to fruition though, more performances like the one Sunday night will be commanded of Towns. He was dominant offensively, and remained available defensively. For a team that clicks when he plays smart, it couldn’t have been a more perfect set of events.

Minnesota watched their big man get into foul trouble, and more than one of those picked up came through less than ideal decision making. Still though. Towns carried enough poise to remain in throughout the end of the game, and it was both he and Edwards that were able to embrace on the court postgame as they got the job done.

No matter how this storyline plays out, the Minnesota Timberwolves are Anthony Edwards’ team. They have been all season, and Towns’ presence or the addition of Gobert have never changed that. For a guy that has seen it all, while having gone through it all, there couldn’t have been a bigger or better moment than what Towns gave his team on Sunday night.

If and when Minnesota keeps winning, expecting Towns to remain in the middle of it makes sense. He’s never going to get the accolades a few of his teammates will, but there’s no one who more understands what this means to the state and franchise than he does.

Eight more wins are what’s left, and he’ll be chasing all of them.