The Timberwolves Are Embracing Their Underdog Status

It was just after 2 p.m. local time when the email hit:

Karl-Anthony Towns. Successful surgery. Reevaluated in four weeks.

Season’s over … right?

Eight hours later, the Minnesota Timberwolves strutted off the Crypto.com Arena floor after a come-from-behind, 118–100 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

OK … season’s back on.

Injuries in sports are devastating. They are worse—considerably worse—when they happen late in a successful season, as Towns’s has in Minnesota. There have been few bigger surprises this season than the Timberwolves, who have surged to the top of the Western Conference standings. The trade for Rudy Gobert, widely panned after a disappointing first season, has paid dividends, with Gobert anchoring the NBA’s best defense. Just a couple of weeks ago, Minnesota was a conference contender.

And now? Well …

Let’s start here: Internally, the Timberwolves believe Towns will be back. Wolves coach Chris Finch didn’t elaborate much on Towns’s surgery. “Good spirits,” said Finch. “Ready to get at it and get back as quick as you can.” Still, there were no issues with the procedure—which repaired a meniscus tear in Towns’s left knee—and team officials are optimistic he will be back for the playoffs.

“I think it’s a wait and see,” said Finch. “I know he is eager to get to work as soon as he can and hopefully there’ll be no issues along the way. It’s pretty normal protocol, but that’s just going to take time, as it always does.”

But where will the Timberwolves be when he does? Towns’s absence last season was catastrophic. He played just 29 games. Minnesota won 42. This season, Towns has been a workhorse. He has played in 60 games, averaging 22.1 points. His three-point percentage (42.3%) is a career best. He earned his fourth All-Star nod, joining teammate Anthony Edwards for the first time.

But this isn’t last season. Edwards is better. Frankly, he’s great. On TNT’s postgame show, Shaquille O’Neal compared Edwards to Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. Consider Wednesday’s game against the Clippers. Minnesota had a terrible first quarter. The Timberwolves trailed by eight at the half. But Edwards scored eight points in the third quarter. He added seven in the fourth. Minnesota’s defense—a full two points better in defensive rating than the Cleveland Cavaliers—held the Clippers to 41.9% shooting in the final two quarters.

Said Finch, “This team believes in itself.”

Minnesota was up for this one. It had been a tough week. It lost in overtime in Cleveland on Friday. On Sunday, it dropped a game to the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers. This game, says Mike Conley, “was probably the biggest game of the season.”

They played like it. With Kawhi Leonard exiting with a back injury in the second quarter, the Timberwolves got aggressive. Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 13 points in the second half. Conley added 15. Before the game, Finch challenged Conley. With Towns out, the Wolves needed Conley to be more aggressive. To look for his shot. Conley did, connecting on 9 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 from three-point range.

“Having lost a couple in a row in the way that we lost them, and who we’re playing, the Clippers, they’re right with us in seeding,” said Conley. “It meant a lot. And for us to steal this one today ... hopefully sets us up for bigger and better things.”

There’s an advantage to losing a star. The Timberwolves, who have sat atop the conference standings for most of the season, get to be the underdog. There was skepticism of the Wolves’ title chances even before Towns’s injury. Whether Towns and Gobert can share the floor in the postseason. Whether Edwards was ready to lead a team deep into the playoffs. With Towns out, Minnesota becomes a target for teams in the bottom half of the playoff bracket.

“We got a team full of dogs, man,” says Conley. “We got guys who want the opportunity that we have. It’s all uphill and people are doubting and that’s where we work best, I think. We’re just going to go out there and do what we do, block the noise out and kind of hold it down until he gets back and be ready to go.”

There’s enough talent to do it. Edwards, who stuffed the stat sheet with 37 points, eight rebounds and four assists on Tuesday, is a bona fide star. Naz Reid is a versatile scorer and defender off the bench. The oft-maligned Gobert is a sturdy screener, a reliable roller and the most inimitable defender in the NBA.

Playing without Towns for most of last season, said Finch, gives Minnesota a head start on figuring out how to play with him in this one.

“When KAT went down, the guys, I think they drew immediately on what last year felt,” said Finch. “I think there’s definitely a recalibration on things. Expectations might shift a little bit. Not necessarily internally, but dealing with what the outside world is expecting of you.

“I think that’s something we got to keep forging ahead on. Can’t get down. Everybody goes through a tough period in the league at some point or another. We’re going through it right now. We still have plenty of bullets to be really good. We just got to find a new kind of rhythm.”

The win over the Clippers kept the Timberwolves a half-game back of the top seed. In a competitive Western Conference, home court advantage will be critical. Without Towns, the Wolves, said Conley, will have to “find ways to win no matter who's out there.”

Last season, that was a problem.

This season? Maybe not.