Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves will look to keep their season alive on Tuesday evening after falling behind zero games to three in their Western Conference Finals series vs Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. While all three games have been closely contested thus far, ultimately it has been the Mavericks and not the Timberwolves who have been able to make all of the key plays down the stretch as Edwards suffers through a rough stretch of games.
Another player who's been missing in action for the Timberwolves in this series is Karl-Anthony Towns, who has endured the worst playoff series of his career up to this point and had another horrendous shooting game on Sunday evening vs the Mavericks.
One person who wants to see Towns step up to the plate and leave it all on the floor in Game 4 is former NBA big man and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, who recently stopped by the Road Trippin' podcast to discuss his thoughts.
“Let’s just keep it real, it don’t have nothing to do about what Kat is doing, or getting extra work in. That mother f—-r is scared of the moment,” said Perkins, via Road Trippin' on YouTube. “That’s what it comes down to, He’s scared as hell right now and I’m watching last night, I’m like okay they both go small, I’m like, Kat should be dominating, he didn’t want no part of it whatsoever, it actually benefited Dallas. ”
Perkins also broke down how a pre-series prediction he made regarding Towns has since backfired.
“So I’m looking at Karl-Anthony Towns, which by the way I said before this series started, he was the most important player in this series, he was going to be the deciding factor whether they lose this series or win this series, but it’s showing, it’s hard you got to have a different level of mental toughness when you make it this deep,” said Perkins.
A frustrating series
While Perkins has become known over the years for his prisoner of the moment takes and affinity for hyperbole, there's still no denying that Karl-Anthony Towns has been wildly disappointing so far in this series vs the Timberwolves. The self-proclaimed “greatest shooting big man in NBA history” cannot throw a grain of salt into the ocean right now, which has allowed the Mavericks to scheme much more heavily on Edwards, who has predictably seen his efficiency crater in this series as well.
While there may not be too many adjustments to be made other than simply knocking down the shots he has been missing, Towns did look a little bit like a deer in the headlights down the stretch of Game 3, taking an ill-advised three point shot late in that contest and also getting barbecued on several matchups late in the contest, including a pull-up jumper from Kyrie Irving that essentially put the game out of reach.
In any case, Game 4 is set to get underway on Tuesday evening at 8:30 PM ET from Dallas.
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