Minnesota Timberwolves: Towns helps Team LeBron to comeback win

Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns helped Team LeBron complete an impressive comeback to defeat Team Giannis on Sunday night in Charlotte.

The consensus heading into this year’s All-Star Game was that Team LeBron, drafted by LeBron James 10 days ago, was the superior grouping of talent. And while the majority of Sunday’s exhibition was dominated by Team Giannis, things swung hard back the other way midway through the second half.

Team LeBron used separate runs of 33-18 in the third quarter and 20-5 in the fourth quarter to run away with the game in the final minutes. Kevin Durant put up 31 points (10-15 FG, 6-9 3P, 5-5 FT), seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal to win the Most Valuable Player award. If his team had held on, Giannis Antetokounmpo would have won the award as the Greek Freak had 38 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists.

Damian Lillard and Klay Thompson keyed their team’s comeback from beyond the arc late in the third quarter, trading blows with Kyle Lowry and others from Team Giannis as LeBron’s squad came all the way back.

The Minnesota Timberwolves‘ lone representative, Karl-Anthony Towns, did not see the floor at all in the first or third quarters and only totaled 11 minutes on the night. He did put up 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 1-of-3 from beyond the arc. Towns also pulled down three rebounds, dished out one assist, and grabbed one steal.

Towns had a plus-minus of +4 in a game that saw Team LeBron trail by double-digits until the fourth quarter. KAT played hard on both ends of the floor, actually playing some semblance of defense and actively hunting offensive rebounds, which did lead to one impressive putback basket.

The game predictably featured an absolute barrage of 3-point attempts; Team LeBron’s Damian Lillard and James Harden combined to shoot 9-for-29 from the floor in the game, and every single one of those attempts was from beyond the arc.

In total, the teams shot 62-for-168 (36.9 percent) from 3-point range. Thompson (6-for-12) and Kawhi Leonard (5-for-11) had the best nights from deep for Team LeBron while Team Giannis was led by Paul George (6-for-12) and Khris Middleton, who made his first three 3-point attempts en route to a 6-for-10 night.

There were a couple of fun moments, including Dirk Nowitzki‘s back-to-back 3-pointers after checking into the game for the first time.

The play of the night was a ridiculous Stephen Curry bounce pass — and I mean BOUNCE pass — alley-oop to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

All things considered, this was a fun All-Star game that included a few memorable highlights, swan songs by both Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade, and a furious comeback by Team LeBron.

The Timberwolves aren’t back at it until Friday night, so we’ll have plenty of content previewing the unofficial second half of the season starting Monday right here at DWW.