Here's the thing, yesterday in the regular season, the Timberwolves won 124-81 at home to the Blazers, this game the Timberwolves played a wave of 31-15 in the first quarter, at the end of the half has been 61-34 lead 27 points, and then the second half became garbage time, the Timberwolves easily won.
After winning this victory, the Timberwolves have won five straight, and in the past 10 games, the Timberwolves have won 8 and 2, and the current record is 37-29, ranking seventh in the West, 2.5 wins away from the Nuggets (39 wins and 26 losses) in the West, and 4.0 wins from the Jazz (40 wins and 24 losses) in the West .
Back in this game, Downs' performance can be said to be quite "cruel".
Down the field, Towns shot a total of 8 of 14, 1 of 1 three-pointer, 10 of 15 from the free throw line, and had 27 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
It should be said that Towns clocked out of work in two and a half quarters and played only 24 minutes, but his plus-minus was as high as +34 - according to the fans' ridicule: "If you play 48 minutes, you can't get a 54 points, 26 rebounds plus-minus +64." ”
Joke to ridicule, the past period of time Downs has indeed been very good, during the five-game winning streak:
— Playing the Cavaliers, 17 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, 7-of-13 shooting
— Playing the Warriors, 39 points, 9 rebounds and 1 assist, shooting 14-of-22 from the field
- Playing thunder, 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 7-of-12 shooting
— Playing the Trail Blazers, 36 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks, shooting 13-of-17 from the field
—Playing the Trail Blazers, 27 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks, 8-of-14 shooting
Just before this game, Towns had just finished with a 20th week's best of the week, his second and sixth career choice of the week.
This year's Towns really gives people a different feeling.
So far, Towns has played in 59 games, averaging 24.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, as well as 1.0 steals and 1.2 blocks.
Thanks to Edwards' growth, Towns has seen some declines in ball this season, averaging 16.7 shots per game and 27.1 percent possessions at a new four-year low.
However, the reduction in ball possession has not affected Downs's efficiency, he is still one of the most efficient centers in the league, so far this season, Towns has shot 52.7%/40.4%/81.1% of his three shots, 63.5% of his true shooting rate, and he is also the only player in the league to have a "50+40+80" triple shooting rate.
In addition to the beautiful data, Downs' influence on the game is also strengthening:
- Downs is on the floor this season, the Timberwolves offensive and defensive efficiency is 115.3/110.7, and the net win over 100 rounds is 4.6 points
- Downs is not there this season, the Timberwolves offensive and defensive efficiency is 105.6/105.7, and the net loss per 100 rounds is 0.2 points
Not long ago, on the All-Star Weekend, Towns not only won the three-point king, but also returned to the All-Star stage after three years, which is the biggest affirmation.
The most immediate and different change is that the Timberwolves' record is also much stronger than in the past few years, the current Timberwolves win rate is 56.1%, which is the second time in the past 17 years that the Timberwolves have won more than 50%, and the last time was the 2017-18 season — if you remember, that year under Butler, the Timberwolves ended the black history of not making the playoffs for 14 consecutive years.
That year, although the Timberwolves entered the playoffs, Towns did not gain a "good reputation", on the contrary, he was more questioned because of his contradictions with Butler.
Who is right and who is wrong is already in the past, I will not mention it here, but the current Towns is indeed not the Downs of the year, he has experienced too much in the past two years, and he has grown a lot, just like he said during this wave of winning streaks, many people have given advice to lead the team, but this season he decided to lead the team by himself: "In essence, it is not so concerned. ”
And in the last game to beat the Blazers, Timberwolves coach Finch said of Towns: "He played the best team level, I think he should be on the MVP list. ”
Truth be told, although Downs has been nominated in the latest issue of the MVP list, it is unlikely that he will actually be elected.
As for the best team, Jokic and Embiid basically locked in one or two teams, these two are also the top two Cs in the league today, as for the third C, it was originally Gobert in the past two years, but this year, Towns' performance is really not necessarily worse than Gobert - if the Timberwolves can finally surpass the Jazz in the record list, then this third C, there should be no suspense.
Of course, it's still a bit early to discuss the honors, and the point is that Towns has to lead the team into the playoffs to really get recognition - the current fourth to seventh in the West are the Jazz, Lone Rangers, Nuggets, Timberwolves, four teams are very close, there is always one to play the playoffs, I hope the Timberwolves to step up, don't let this team become themselves.