Downtown Minneapolis was buzzing on Tuesday night with a playoff atmosphere, even if it technically wasn’t the playoffs.
The Minnesota Timberwolves were playing their biggest game in four years, hosting the LA Clippers in a play-in game to secure a spot in the NBA playoffs. In what turned out to be a thrilling 109-104 victory, there were a number of things that stood out.
This is a game where you expected Karl-Anthony Towns to take over, impose his will, and lead his team into the postseason. That didn’t happen as KAT found himself in foul trouble early on and eventually fouled out with over seven minutes left to play in the fourth quarter.
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His teammates picked him up, and did it in a big way. Second-year player Athony Edwards, in his first postseason game, and D’Angelo Russell picked up the slack scoring 30 and 29 points respectively as Minnesota gutted out the win over a Los Angeles team that welcomed back Paul George just in time for the end of the year. George led LA with 34 points.
“It is a fact that Anthony Edwards brought his A-Game tonight.” Henry Lake said on Timberwolves Tonight following the game on WCCO. “Anthony Edwards is somebody that if you put him into a postseason situation, he’s going to flourish. Edwards has that energy, the enthusiasm. He’s charismatic. All the things that make up somebody that can rise above and beyond what they normally do, you can see that in ANT.”
While Edwards deserves much of the praise for the Wolves win tonight, Lake said the bench did their part as well, something that they’ve done consistently since January.
“The most valuable player off the bench tonight was Malik Beasley.” Lake said on his postgame show. “Beasley hit the clutch shots tonight. When you needed somebody to step up and get you a bucket, he got you a bucket. It was imperative for someone to come in off the bench and give the starters some help.”
To win in the NBA, you need more than one star. The Timberwolves had several Tuesday night and will need that to continue to beat second-seed Memphis.
Lake said that he believes Tuesday’s performance by Towns is a one-off, saying it was simply a bad game for him and it won’t be a trend.
“Am I concerned? No, I’m not,” said Lake. “I think the next time we see Towns he is going to be dominant. But (Tuesday) wasn’t his night.”
With the win Tuesday, The Wolves have a couple days to rest before starting their playoff series with Memphis Saturday. Minnesota will need a much better performance from Towns if they want to go far in the playoffs but one thing the Wolves learned from tonight is that it’s no longer just KAT’s team. Not as long as ANT and DLo are by his side.
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