Timberwolves’ Towns notches double-double in Rising Stars loss
By Ben Beecken
Second-year Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Team U.S.A.’s loss to Team World in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night.
In what is the only event with a Timberwolves player participating throughout NBA All-Star Weekend — a stark contrast to the past few years — Karl-Anthony Towns tallied a double-double and would have had a real shot at the game’s MVP award if Team U.S.A. had pulled out a victory.
Instead, Jamal Murray‘s 36 points on 13-of-19 shooting, including 9-of-14 from beyond the arc, plus 11 assists was enough to run away with Most Valuable Player honors in Team World’s 150-141 victory.
Towns was fantastic, shooting 11-for-14 himself and only missing one two-point field goal attempt. He also grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out three assists, and grabbed two steals.
If Team U.S.A. had won, Towns would have had a neck-and-neck competition with Charlotte’s Frank Kaminsky for the MVP award. Frank the Tank had 33 points on 12-of-16, including a crazy 9-of-13 from three-point range. He only contributed three rebounds and two assists outside of his scoring, however, so KAT would have still had a chance at MVP.
The best highlight of Towns’ night was this three-quarters-court alley-oop from former University of Kentucky teammate Devin Booker.
Sure, the pass was much better than the dunk itself, but it was still an impressively coordinated play all the way around.
Towns’ performance came on the heels of the folks at ESPN’s #NBArank slotting him in third in their ranking of the top-50 players who are currently 25-years-old and younger. He came behind Anthony Davis, who is still just 23 years-old, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the 22 year-old phenom enjoying a true breakout with the Milwaukee Bucks.
As ESPN points out at the above link, Towns is likely to join Shaquille O’Neal as the only players age 21 or younger to average at least 23 points and 11 rebounds per game. On it’s face, it seems crazy to slot such a player third in a 25-and-under list — after all, he’s probably a top-15 (top-20 at worst) player in the league already, and he’s not even top-two when it comes to 25-and-under players.
But it goes to show just how dominate the crop of extremely young players in today’s NBA really is — and that pushes Joel Embiid and All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving down to fourth and fifth on the list, respectively.
As All-Star Weekend rolls along without the Timberwolves, Tom Thibodeau’s players will get some rest and relaxation as they gear up for the unofficial second half of the season and a potential playoff run.
Next: Karl-Anthony Towns Works Out With Sasquatch (Video)
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