Minnesota Timberwolves star big Karl-Anthony Towns wasn't too interested in reflecting on his poor offensive output following the team's shocking Game 3 collapse and loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night. In response to scoring an inadequate eight points and taking only four shots, the three-time All-Star told one reporter "next question," and later said he'd turn the page by going home and drinking some wine.
Towns' contributions in the Timberwolves' pair of losses to the Grizzlies have certainly been intolerable, especially to his standards. In the last two games, the 26-year-old has recorded more fouls (10) and turnovers (9) than baskets made (7). Towns' struggles haven't been ignored, and to make matters much worse, Minnesota inexplicably blew leads of 20-plus points against Memphis in just its third home playoff game since 2004.
"If you're the best player on their team, you can't have 11 shots in two games," NBC Sports writer Kurt Helin explained to the Reiter Than You show on Friday. "He's such a diverse, impressive offensive player -- and they're just not using him. It's like he's almost a decoy, half of the time. It's a ton of mind-boggling offense. They're a young team and figuring it out.
"But this has been a problem for, how many coaches now? This team doesn't give him the ball in key moments enough. It's frustrating. They're frustrating -- him not getting the touches, but also not taking over and demanding touches and demanding this more. If he's not going to be the true alpha leader on that team, they've got to go find one... Who's the guy setting them straight?"
Minnesota, which clinched the West's seventh-seed with 46 wins, is set to play Game 4 on Saturday night (10 ET tipoff), at Target Center. According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the T-Wolves currently have a 19-percent chance to win the series, and just a 1-percent chance to reach the conference finals. Back in 2004, when they last appeared in the West finals, nearly every player on the current roster was in elementary school.
The entire NBA conversation between Helin and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.