Skip to main content

Wolves' Karl-Anthony Towns explodes for NBA season-high 60 points, dedicates performance to late mother


 


On a night when Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid squared off in Philadelphia, Karl-Anthony Towns issued a reminder that there are more than two freakishly talented centers in the NBA right now. In the Timberwolves' 149-139 win over the Spurs on Monday, Towns went absolutely bonkers to the tune of 60 points on ridiculous efficiency. 


He shot 19-of-31 overall (61 percent). 


He made seven of his 11 of his attempts on 3-pointers. 


He got to the free-throw line 16 times, sinking 15.


Towns' big night had some deeper emotion attached to it, as he shared on his Twitter in a series of tweets that Monday's performance also happened to be two years to the date of when both of his parents were checked into the hospital with COVID-19. 


"Yesterday was two years to the date that my parents walked into the ER at JFK Medical Center in Edison, NJ and were admitted with COVID-19," Towns posted. "The same hospital that my mother gave me life, and tragically, the same hospital where I saw her life begin to slip away. Two years later, I walked into AT&T Center with the greatest guardian angel that I could ever ask for and dropped 60 against the winningest coach of all time.


"I say this to say...no matter what life throws at you, you can come out of i stronger. Tough times don't last, tough people do. Miss you Momma. This game...my life...is for you."


Towns' 60 points, a Timberwolves franchise record, is the league's highest single-game output this season, surpassing LeBron James and Trae Young, both of whom had a 56-point night. Towns had 56 through three quarters. He came back late in the fourth to put a bow on his evening with a top-of-the-key 3. 


Towns was having a really good game with 24 points at halftime. He took it to nuclear levels with 32 in the third quarter, which is the fifth-most points ever scored in a single quarter, per StatMuse. 


Towns' night adds to the league's recent run of scoring eruptions. In the last two weeks alone there have been four 50-point games: LeBron (50, 56), Jayson Tatum (54) and Kevin Durant (53). Add to that 47 and 46 for Trae Young, 45 for Jordan Clarkson, 44 for Josh Hart and De'Aaron Fox (who also had a 41), 43 for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid, 41 for Darius Garland and 40 for Nikola Jokic. 


And now Towns' 60, which marks the 15th game this season in which a player has scored at least 50 points. Most importantly, the Wolves are now 10 games over .500 and just two games back of the Denver Nuggets for a top-six seed. The Wolves still have one game remaining against Denver on April 1, and if they win that they would also secure the season tiebreaker with a 3-1 head-to-head advantage. 


In a season where the Timberwolves have surpassed expectations, Towns has been the driving force behind Minnesota being a playoff contender in the West. Monday night's performance was the latest example of his impressive play, and for Towns to do it on a day that he holds such a tragic personal connection to makes his performance even more powerful. 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bill Russell Once Explained Why He Didn't Bother With Celtics Fans: "When I Was A Star, The Fans Called Us The 'Boston Globetrotters' Because The Celtics Had Black Players."

  While the NBA is a beacon for freedom and tolerance in America, things didn't start off that way. In a place like Boston, during the 50s and 60s, racial tension was a pretty serious problem, and superstar big man Bill Russell had to deal with it on a game-to-game basis. Today, it can be hard for us to imagine just how difficult being a black basketball player really was back then. Fortunately, we have some clips: "The number one paper was the Boston Herald and they didn't like the idea of an NBA team having black players. Out there, the star was Bob Cousy. No matter what I did, Cousy was the star. I remember I had a game where I had 25 points, 25 rebounds, 10 blocks, and the Boston Herald said I was lucky to play with Cousy." Unfortunately, the media didn't give Russell his respect back then. Despite being the best player on the court, and on his team, Cousy and others always got the spotlight. Even the fans weren't very accepting of Bill: "I didn't...
Post a Comment
Read more

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

  Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sixers' James Harden backs teammate Joel Embiid for MVP: 'He deserves it, man'

  James Harden has been a member of the Philadelphia 76ers for less than two months, but that's been more than enough time for him to appreciate the brilliance of Joel Embiid. The duo is expected to help the Sixers compete for a championship, but Harden believes another trophy should be on its way to Philly this year.  In an interview with Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Harden backed Embiid for MVP, saying "he deserves it, man." "I've only been here for a few weeks, but I already see his mindset," Harden said. "He wants to win. Some guys just want numbers, but he has both. He has the mentality of winning, and he scores the ball at a high level. I think he's prepared himself, especially coming off last year, for this year to be one of his best years." This has indeed been one of Embiid's best years. He's averaging a career-high 29.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.4 blocks while shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent f...
Post a Comment
Read more