Player to watch: Karl-Anthony Towns
For this game, we will have the ability to watch arguably the two best centers in the game. It’s a close battle and an ongoing debate as to who is a better center, but to this point, the nod is still given to Cousins.
Towns will have a lot to prove to show that he is truly the best center. It will be important for him to get things going offensively. After a rather slow start from the big man, he has seemingly found his groove. Grabbing over 10 rebounds a game in every game but one against the Indiana Pacers. But, offensively he simply can’t be stopped – scoring 20 plus in every game and even going over 30 points.
But, offensively isn’t going to be the issue. There is no denying that Towns has faced a lot of criticism concerning his play on defense. In his game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he definitely heard those critiques and showed up big – coming away with four blocks.
KAT: "I could hear all the talk in the background and I wanted to try to silence it as much as possible tonight." Wanted team to be focus
— Jace frederick (@JaceFrederick) October 28, 2017
If he thought that Steven Adams was going to be a tough opponent to face, then he will have an even bigger task against Cousins. Just look at these stats, these are numbers that only a few players can even manage to do.
| Rk | G | Date | Age | Tm | Opp | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | GmSc | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2017-10-18 | 27-066 | NOP | @ | MEM | L (-12) | 1 | 38:24 | 9 | 21 | .429 | 3 | 9 | .333 | 7 | 8 | .875 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 28 | 21.0 |
| 2 | 2 | 2017-10-20 | 27-068 | NOP | GSW | L (-8) | 1 | 32:36 | 11 | 23 | .478 | 3 | 8 | .375 | 10 | 13 | .769 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 26.1 | |
| 3 | 3 | 2017-10-22 | 27-070 | NOP | @ | LAL | W (+7) | 1 | 35:33 | 8 | 17 | .471 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 5 | 8 | .625 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 14.8 |
| 4 | 4 | 2017-10-24 | 27-072 | NOP | @ | POR | L (-10) | 1 | 38:57 | 12 | 23 | .522 | 3 | 10 | .300 | 12 | 17 | .706 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 39 | 26.0 |
| 5 | 5 | 2017-10-26 | 27-074 | NOP | @ | SAC | W (+8) | 1 | 43:46 | 14 | 25 | .560 | 3 | 5 | .600 | 10 | 12 | .833 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 41 | 38.3 |
| 6 | 6 | 2017-10-28 | 27-076 | NOP | CLE | W (+22) | 1 | 32:29 | 11 | 20 | .550 | 2 | 6 | .333 | 5 | 5 | 1.000 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 31.6 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/29/2017.
This match-up will be the key for Towns, and it might just get the Wolves a win. There is obviously Davis to contain, but that isn’t as big of a match-up as the two best centers in the NBA.