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The Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their first-round playoffs matchup, 104-101. The Timberwolves performed much better than most people thought they would against Houston, which is saying a lot considering that Minnesota big man Karl-Anthony Towns churned out a sub-par performance.
Towns finished the series opener with a paltry output of eight points. Although he did pluck down 12 rebounds, it was his underwhelming offensive production that is being put under the microscope. That said, it was not about Towns bricking his shots. Instead, it was the lack of touches for Towns that is more concerning. Towns finished the regular season third on his team with 14.3 field goal attempts per game, but only had nine shots in Game 1 against Houston.
Towns’ lack of offensive activity is clearly not lost on Minnesota head coach Tim Thibodeau, who expressed his desire for the former Kentucky Wildcat to be “more active” moving forward, per Tim McMahon of ESPN.
Tom Thibodeau on Karl-Anthony Towns: "He has to be more active." Specifically, Thibodeau says Towns needs to run the floor better.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 16, 2018
Towns seems to be on the same page with Tim Thibodeau, though.
Karl-Anthony Towns: "I've got to be better all the way around."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 16, 2018
Andrew Wiggins and Derrick Rose shared the bulk of the Timberwolves’ shot attempts with 15 and 14, respectively. Rose, however, played in only 24 minutes off the bench compared to Towns, who was on the floor for 40 minutes, so it’s truly a bit disappointing for Minnesota to see its big man get limited touches.
As loaded as the Timberwolves’ roster is, they are still going to need a heavy dosage of Towns if they are to take down the Rockets in this series.
Dating back to February of last year, Minnesota is 0-7 in games against the Rockets.
