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

Karl-Anthony Towns has struggled so far

The long-feared rust over not playing for months in the regular season has reared its ugly head, and Karl-Anthony Towns has competed as a former shell of his average self. Just how poorly has Karl-Anthony Towns played in this series so far? In 29 regular season games, KAT has averaged:

33.0 minutes | 20.8  points | 8.1 rebounds | 4.8 assists | 0.6 blocks | 0.7 steals

But in the two games against the Nuggets so far, Towns is only averaging:

32.0 minutes | 10.5  points | 11.0 rebounds | 2.0 assists | 0.5 blocks | 0.0 steals

That’s quite a steep drop in production off his season average and one we witnessed unfolding in the first half of Game 2. The problem with this steep drop in production is the fact that the Timberwolves need the best out of Towns to have a chance of winning games against the powerhouse Denver Nuggets.  Despite that fact, KAT has failed to show up in this Round 1 series of the NBA Playoffs so far.

Are two losses the sole responsibility of Karl-Anthony Towns in the NBA Playoffs? Of course not, as every player on the entire team has been struggling so far at times. The challenge now is that Karl-Anthony Towns, by signing a Super Max contract, is not just any player. The concept of Super Max deals is not to reward players for preseason games, regular season statistics, and memorable press conferences.

The idea is to compensate the leaders of this team whose responsibility is to step up and lead the team to victory against the odds, against adversity, and even despite injuries.

We’ve seen that type of leadership from young Anthony Edwards so far in this series. Curiously enough, we’ve seen it out of first-year veteran center Rudy Gobert in this series. The key contributor and one of the three weight-bearing walls of the Timberwolves roster to remain missing in the first two games in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets so far is Karl-Anthony Towns.

And if the Timberwolves do not find KAT and get him to show up in the next two games, they are in very serious danger of being swept by the Nuggets.