To argue that Karl-Anthony Towns wasn’t pleased with his performance through the first three matches of the West Finals would be to understate the obvious. He hit only six of 20 field goal attempts in Game One, four of 16 in Game Two, and five of 18 in Game Three, prompting not a few to pin the Timberwolves’ losses to the Mavericks on him. Which was why he found himself scrambling to explain away his slump — dating back, really, to the end of the previous series against the Nuggets — as mere bad luck. He contended that he wasn’t lacking in preparation, even exaggerating that he made sure to put up 1,500 shots every day. They just weren’t falling.
Not that Towns was completely off the mark. Mere inches prevented an inordinate number of his tries from hitting the bottom of the net. At the same time, there can be no glossing over the fact that stars make their own fortunes. And he didn’t. There was no consistency to his misses; some were short, some long, some to the left, some to the right, some forced, some ill-timed. And with the Mavericks hellbent on stopping All-NBA second team selection Anthony Edwards, the narrative was that he could not meet the challenge head on and pick up the slack.
Towns’ travails notwithstanding, there was one silver lining: The series was not over. The Mavericks needed one more triumph to secure a spot alongside the Celtics in the Finals, and, until then, there remained an opportunity for redemption. And, yes, it bears noting that Towns didn’t look defeated. He believed, maybe even irrationally under the circumstances, that the tide would turn in Game Four. And, lo and behold, it did. He was nothing short of spectacular the other day, going an efficient nine of 13 and delivering under pressure to help Edwards lead the charge for the Timberwolves.
Today, Towns gets another crack at glory. And when he tries to build on his success, he will, no doubt, be leaning on the support of 19,500 fans at Target Center. Youth fuels the Timberwolves’ confidence, but the nine-year veteran would do well to bank even more on experience as he dares to flirt with the improbable. There have been 154 three-nil leads in playoff history, and not once has the deficit been overcome. Game Four was a start. And as Sisyphean as the task at hand may be, he can, if nothing else, dream big.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
