When Rudy Gobert is not there, the KAT dances… Already deprived of its French pivot, but also of Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz lost Joe Ingles in the second quarter. A serious injury that cut off the momentum of Utah, and it was Karl-Anthony Towns who was responsible for pushing them a little further in the 3rd quarter.
The interior took the match on its own to the point of planting 16 points in a row at 100% on shots in three minutes! Facing a still naive Hassan Whiteside, KAT ends this 3rd quarter with 18 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 interception and no lost ball. All at 5 of 6 on shots, with a 2 of 2 at 3-pointers!
“I just take what the defense gives me” he explains after the meeting. “In the third quarter, there were so many chances that it gave me a few chances to be really aggressive offensively, to score some points, and to put some shots. “
Wolves widen gap on Lakers
Even though he talks about being aggressive, Towns didn’t force anything. He effectively took what Whiteside and then Gay gave him, and his teammates got him in good shape on simple pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop.
“I thought we did a great job on our head pick-and-roll with me, Jaylen (Nowell) or Ant (Edwards). These very tall pick-and-rolls give me a lot of options. I put some 3-points. I dribbled from the 3-point line. This gave me the opportunity to penetrate. “
Upon arrival, Towns signed one of his best games of the season with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. All at 10 of 17 on shots with a 3 of 4 from 3-pointers. This is only his 2nd career triple-double, and his 10 assists are the consequences of two-man Jazz players. A formation of Utah certainly very diminished but Town retains the way.
“It was a good night, and it didn’t matter who was playing opposite” he concludes. “There are a lot of things that we appreciated like the energy and the confidence. I’m really happy with what we produced.”
A happy Towns is not so often… With a 5th victory in 8 matches, his Wolves are tied with the Clippers in 7th place, and above all they are widening the gap with the Lakers, 9th.
| Karl Anthony Towns | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2015-16 | MIN | 82 | 32 | 54.3 | 34.1 | 81.1 | 2.8 | 7.7 | 10.4 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 18.3 |
| 2016-17 | MIN | 82 | 37 | 54.2 | 36.7 | 83.2 | 3.6 | 8.7 | 12.3 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 25.1 |
| 2017-18 | MIN | 82 | 36 | 54.5 | 42.1 | 85.8 | 2.9 | 9.4 | 12.3 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 21.3 |
| 2018-19 | MIN | 77 | 33 | 51.8 | 40.0 | 83.6 | 3.4 | 9.0 | 12.4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 24.4 |
| 2019-20 | MIN | 35 | 34 | 50.8 | 41.2 | 79.6 | 2.7 | 8.1 | 10.8 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 26.5 |
| 2020-21 | MIN | 50 | 34 | 48.6 | 38.7 | 85.9 | 2.7 | 7.9 | 10.6 | 4.5 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 24.8 |
| 2021-22 | MIN | 42 | 35 | 51.4 | 40.4 | 80.6 | 2.8 | 6.6 | 9.4 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 24.2 |
| Total | 450 | 34 | 52.6 | 39.6 | 83.2 | 3.0 | 8.4 | 11.4 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 23.0 | |
