The Minnesota Timberwolves lost another heartbreaker on Wednesday. Tied with a few seconds left, Carmelo Anthony nailed a jumper over Andrew Wiggins to give the Knicks a lead. This was the Timberwolves’ response.
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The Wolves are now 5-13, with the third-worst record in the league despite a scoring margin that should have them near .500. Minnesota is now 0-4 in games decided by five or fewer points. They cannot catch a break in close games. And it’s weighing on them.
Karl-Anthony Towns, perhaps the most promising young player in the sport, continues to take the blame after every loss. From the Pioneer Press after a recent loss to the Jazz:
“These losses fall on my shoulders. This is no one else’s fault – none of the coaching staff, none of my teammates. It’s my fault,” Towns said. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault but myself, and it’s something that I’ve got to fix. It’s something that, so far in the season, has been me. I’ve got to change. I’ve got to change for the better for us. I guess it’s back to the drawing board tomorrow.”
Towns is currently one of eight players all time to average 22 and 10 at the age of 21 or younger.
On Wednesday, Towns became one of nine players to ever record 47 points and 18 rebounds in a game. He is the third-youngest player to ever nab 45 and 15 in a game. This was his postgame reaction.
This is not healthy.
Britt Robson dug into Towns’ hero complex a few weeks back. The upshot was that by taking so much responsibility for the Wolves’ failures on his own shoulders, Towns neglects his teammates’ role in the team’s ascent. In other words, Towns’ staged martyrdom separates him from his cohorts. This is a fair, if harsh, read.
More concerning in the immediate term is that Towns’ pose is incredibly depressing. A team this heavy on potential should not be so damn dour all the time. Losing sucks, and the Wolves are losing in especially frustrating ways. That’s not fun, and no one would argue the Wolves should be having fun. But does it have to be so crushingly gloomy every night?
It’s not healthy for a player with a future as bright as Towns to beat himself up in the midst of one of the best seasons ever for a 21-year-old. It’s not healthy for the youngest team in the NBA to get so depressed after playing like ... the youngest team in the NBA.
Insane expectations that Tom Thibodeau would take a babyfaced 29-win team to the playoffs fuel this. And maybe Thibodeau himself fuels it, though he did attempt to downplay those high expectations in a preseason conversation with our Paul Flannery.
We all expected Thibodeau to quickly rub off on the Wolves. The coach was supposed to impart his attention to detail and defensive intensity. The Wolves are indeed picking up bits of Thibodeau: his compulsive tendencies. The Thibs who argues calls up 20 in the fourth, the Thibs who plays his stars heavy minutes in garbage time, the Thibs who acts like his dog fell into a frozen lake after a loss to a straight-up better team.
This is not what the Wolves need. This is not what Towns needs.
The good news is that Thibodeau can change course and take a softer tone with the Wolves. He can work on easing Towns’ burden both on the court with fewer first-half minutes and in the locker room by refusing to allow Towns to continue to put the blame on his own shoulders. If he chooses to, of course.
The Wolves shouldn’t be thinking about the playoffs, and frankly never should have been thinking about the playoffs this season. Wins really aren’t that important at this point. Learning the defense that will soon make Minnesota great is the priority. Determining whether Gorgui Dieng is the long-term fit next to Towns is important. Developing Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine are important. Finding out what Kris Dunn can do is important.
The Wolves are a young, bad team. That’s totally fine. You’re not climbing this mountain in one year. Stop worrying so much. Put in the work, chill the hell out, and look forward. That’s the way to get out of this funk.
