As Karl-Anthony Towns struggles, Timberwolves NBA Playoffs hopes in ICU

After two games in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs, with the eighth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves have faced the Denver Nuggets, it’s been nearly all Denver Nuggets so far. In fact of the eight quarters of basketball games so far, the distribution pretty much tells how things have gone for the Minnesota Timberwolves to date:

I:   The Denver Nuggets have won six quarters – three in each game
II:  The Minnesota Timberwolves have won one quarter – Q3 in Game 2
III: The two teams tied in one quarter – The final quarter of Game 1, after the Nuggets had a 25+ point lead on the Timberwolves.

The outcome of the two games has been clear, as the Timberwolves’ ability to even take the lead in the two games so far has been limited to early in the first quarter.

Ant-Man is a true Timberwolves superhero

The brightest moments in the two games so far came after a Herculean effort by the Timberwolves in Game 2, led by the Timberwolves’ 21-year-old All-Star shooting guard, Anthony Edwards, who broke the NBA record for the youngest player in the history of the league to score more than 40 points as well as put up more than five three-point shots in an NBA Playoff game:

In fact, the two guards in the backcourt of the Minnesota Timberwolves certainly did their part to try to win this one. Both Anthony Edwards and point guard Mike Conely Jr. combined to put up some impressive stats for the Wolves on the road:

Combined
80 minutes | 55 points | 11 assists | 2 steals | 3 blocks | 2 turnovers | 4 personal fouls
Edwards
42 minutes | 41 points | 4 assists | 2 steals | 3 blocks | 2 turnovers | 4 personal fouls
Conley Jr.
38 minutes | 14 points | 7 assists | 0 steals | 0 blocks | 1 turnovers | 0 personal fouls

That’s about as well as you can expect the Timberwolves to play where the guards are concerned. So why does this team keep falling so short so often against the Denver Nuggets, a team that the Timberwolves were able to defeat twice in the regular season?