Wolves vs Pacers GDT

[AbeVigodaLive]

I only watched the 2nd half... I know both of Towns' 2nd half fouls were offensive... how many of the 3 fouls in the first half?

As Cam notes... they also count as TOs.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I only watched the 2nd half... I know both of Towns' 2nd half fouls were offensive... how many of the 3 fouls in the first half?

As Cam notes... they also count as TOs.

Karl-Anthony Towns had one offensive foul in the first half and two in the second half, as you mentioned.

[Coolbreeze44]

In the first half, the play that Towns was most upset about occurred when he created all the contact. You can't bull into the defender, create contact and then expect to get a foul call. That is unless the defender is Jaden McDaniels. Towns just needs to change, simple as that.

[Q-is-here]

Monster, I'm not sure why you haven't watched more games this year. This has been one of the more enjoyable Timberwolves teams of this millennium both in terms of record and entertainment factor. I don't know your situation, but I sincerely implore you to get back into the groove while there's still regular season games left. I think you'd enjoy it and provide even more valuable insight to the board.

To your point, I believe Karl-Anthony Towns has actually changed his game. He's rolling to the rim more than I've seen him do since his rookie season and D'Angelo Russell has done a great job of finding him with pocket passes in stride. For years I wondered why he never got rewarded with easy buckets by simply rolling harder to the rim. He's been doing that more this year. Additionally, he leads the league by a significant margin for drives by a center. In fact, he has more drives per game this year than he has three-point attempts per game. He's constantly putting pressure on the defense and converting at a high level. You'd think that attacking more by rolling to the rim and driving to the hoop he'd see his free throw attempts inflate with a higher likelihood of contact initiated, but that just hasn't been the case. His free throw rate is down from the last two years and his turnover percentage is up -- almost certainly a result of his offensive foul issues.

So, the change in his play style should theoretically result in more trips to the charity stripe, but in reality the opposite is happening while he's turning the ball over more. Some of that is Towns' fault, absolutely, but it's my opinion that he's getting robbed by the officials more often than not. The contact that goes uncalled on him is egregious and I'm at the point where I empathize with the guy. I'd lose my cool too if I continued to get shoved and hacked on my way to the hoop with no whistle. I just don't know what can be done about it at this point.

While it's easy for us fans to want him to shut up and play ball, I think he has a right to be upset. He's essentially working harder to get his points than other players of similar or worse caliber.

The silver lining with all his drives is that Finch figured out a way to get KAT the ball in crunch time, something seemingly every other coach either couldn't or wouldn't do. That catch and face-up at the nail is just a great spot for him to drive or put up a mid-range jumper.

With DLO and Ant on board, this doesn't mean KAT will get more touches since we probably need to exploit the best matchups. But it's good to know that we can get him the ball in an advantageous spot when we really need a bucket from him.

[Monster]

Monster, I'm not sure why you haven't watched more games this year. This has been one of the more enjoyable Timberwolves teams of this millennium both in terms of record and entertainment factor. I don't know your situation, but I sincerely implore you to get back into the groove while there's still regular season games left. I think you'd enjoy it and provide even more valuable insight to the board.

To your point, I believe Karl-Anthony Towns has actually changed his game. He's rolling to the rim more than I've seen him do since his rookie season and D'Angelo Russell has done a great job of finding him with pocket passes in stride. For years I wondered why he never got rewarded with easy buckets by simply rolling harder to the rim. He's been doing that more this year. Additionally, he leads the league by a significant margin for drives by a center. In fact, he has more drives per game this year than he has three-point attempts per game. He's constantly putting pressure on the defense and converting at a high level. You'd think that attacking more by rolling to the rim and driving to the hoop he'd see his free throw attempts inflate with a higher likelihood of contact initiated, but that just hasn't been the case. His free throw rate is down from the last two years and his turnover percentage is up -- almost certainly a result of his offensive foul issues.

So, the change in his play style should theoretically result in more trips to the charity stripe, but in reality the opposite is happening while he's turning the ball over more. Some of that is Towns' fault, absolutely, but it's my opinion that he's getting robbed by the officials more often than not. The contact that goes uncalled on him is egregious and I'm at the point where I empathize with the guy. I'd lose my cool too if I continued to get shoved and hacked on my way to the hoop with no whistle. I just don't know what can be done about it at this point.

While it's easy for us fans to want him to shut up and play ball, I think he has a right to be upset. He's essentially working harder to get his points than other players of similar or worse caliber.

Thanks for the response Cam. I saw Dane moore has a podcast where he talks about Towns is playing more like Giannis. I haven't listened to it. It sounds like Towns has changed his game. Which is good to hear. It might take another season before he gets the calls he should be getting. I do think he does have a right to be somewhat upset but he also needs to tone it down sometimes. It seems like he has tried to do so.

As for watching games...I'll share where my head has been at the past couple months and it's evolving. I realized at some point that I needed to take a step back for a while. I realized I wasn't actually enjoying watching and following sports, I was watching it was more out of investment and habit that actually enjoying it. I guess it was more like doing a job (I do like my job but I do have to do it) than actually something I wanted to do. I'm not saying it wasn't also enjoyable at times but life is too short to be doing extra stuff in terms of hobbies because you feel you HAVE to. I'm trying to find the right combination of things I want in my life. I realized there were things I wasn't doing because I was letting stuff I may care about less take up my time. Sports isn't the only thing I am working towards figuring out what part is something I actually like doing or it's something I am doing more out of habit. That's where I am at and I plan on watching at least a game a week going forward although I have a vacation coming up next week so idk if I will watch any games during that or not.