Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: Karl Anthony-Towns Goes CRAZY in Loss To Charlotte

Locked On Wolves POSTCAST: Karl Anthony-Towns Goes CRAZY in Loss To Charlotte

Backto back home losses for the first time all season as the Wolves spoil cats career night I got wolves expert Tyler meaf to help us break it all down and it’s all coming up next on the lock on wolves Postcast you are locked on wolves postcast part of locked on Minnesota on the locked on podcast Network work your team every day what’s up what’s up back in the lab back at it another t-wolves postcast episode right here on the lockdown Sports Minnesota Network you got myself

Luke Inman lukor spin that’s the man Tyler meaf on Twitter at tetaf 11 and before we get into all the action quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more with America’s number one Sportsbook and official Sportsbook partner of the NBA right now new customers you’re getting

$150 in bonus Bets with any $5 bet $150 when you bet just five check it all out and visit fanduel.com lockon NBA all right man um wolves looking to bounce back after that five-point loss Saturday night versus OKC and I I know we usually start with the biggest

Takeaways and there’s plenty to get into uh after those back-to-back losses here but it’s just not every night you get to sit back and watch someone put up 62 points that’s exactly what we got from Carl Anthony towns tonight that dude was a oneman wrecking crew he couldn’t miss

Early on 44 at halftime dude started out 14 of 16 from the floor eight of eight from three Target Center was absolutely rocking tonight but as fun as that was to watch they end up letting the Hornets back into this one despite winning the battle they lose the war something Jim

Pete on the broadcast kept talking about in that second half they lose 1281 25 dropped their second game in a row but before we get into all that let’s digress just for a moment or two talk to us about cats career record setting night 62 points eight boards 10 of 15

From three that was absolutely wild to watch I it it was one of the most fun shooting displays that we’ve seen from a wolves player ever it was incredible how just easy it all came they didn’t have anyone on the court who could guard him uh the the outside shot was falling with

Ease and consistently uh 44 points at half on 105.9 effective field goal rate pretty good um he just couldn’t miss he was in the zone you know couple Miss free throws but still got 10 of them to go down by the end of the night 62 points on the Night 10 of

15 from three 21 of 35 overall it’s a stat line that should suggest a 30-point win um it it it was a really really special performance from him that unfortunately got wasted but it really shows you how special of an offensive Talent he is um you know I missed just getting

Ready for the show I missed the the last 3060 seconds was there a couple maybe uh subjective blown calls there at the end on CAD I’ve seen a lot of people in the comment section already saying couple Miss calls on cat there right at the end

Did I miss those yeah he got mauled going to the rim and there there’s a pretty clear uh you know hand across his forearm when he went up for the shot it sucks as a Miss call and you know hey you know at least we can sleep easy

Knowing that it’ll show up in the two-minute report um which changes absolutely nothing and it’s the dumbest thing the NBA has ever implemented um and but is a Miss call but that’s what happens in sports calls get missed and you can’t challenge that one and the

Bigger issue is that they were down one in that spot to begin with when absolutely one of your best players has 62 points on the night you can’t go back to that call and be like oh well that’s why we lost like well okay yeah maybe yeah that that should have been called

But in no world should this have been a one-point game at that yeah no absolutely sports are so wild by the way man on the 18th year anniversary of Kobe putting up 81 Cat puts up his monster Knight Joel embiid puts up 65 that’s almost like Eerie for those two

Performances to happen on the same night as Kobe’s iconic game uh it’s just absolutely wild almost get a little Goosebump Factor going on back to reality though what you were touching on major buzz kill to lose this one and as fun and special as cats night was I

Guess let’s start diving into this one how the Wolves let this one slip away talk to me about the Wolves defense in particular a defense that hey usually the best in the business and and what gave them so many troubles with this Hornets offense all night yeah and they

They just couldn’t contain the ball at all so you know the Hornets the tallest player they started was 6 foot seven so they’re playing Five out everyone’s on the perimeter they’re not looking to post anyone up they’re not Rim running they’re not rolling to the Rim at all

They’re trying to empty the paint and they did and the wolves have survived that most mostly this year because they’ve been really good at keeping those drives contained and keeping the ball handler in front of them or at least attached to them and not getting completely dusted tonight that wasn’t

The case and that’s kind of been a a reoccurring Trend these last couple weeks where their point of attack defense has been really really really bad um and they’re letting guys just get into the paint at will and the issue with that especially with the five out

System is that either it forces someone to rotate really far over and completely leave their guy um and leave them wide open for a three which we saw a handful tonight where Miles Bridges even JT Thor Nick Smith Brandon Miller uh lamelo ball Terry Rosier kind of got in that groove

By knocking down a couple wide open threes and then you know once they do that help defense stops coming as regularly which just creates a layup line um which we then saw and now all these guys are a rhythm and that’s when these really tough mid-range pull-ups that guys like Brandon Miller Terry

Rosier were hitting late those start becoming a little easier because they’ve seen the ball go through the hoop consistently they’re in a rhythm they’re in a Groove they’re already scoring efficiently on high volume it it it was just kind of Death By A Thousand Cuts and they just

Couldn’t stop them at all in a really kind of embarrassing display defensively from them uh I know statistically still number won in a lot of categories top three top five in virtually every category defensively but maybe not the same exact defense we got earlier on I

Mean have you seen any themes or Trends happening you’ve noticed on the defensive side of the ball call it maybe the last two three weeks or so yeah it’s really just it it all starts with the on ball stuff um yeah and the the these teams that have lethal mid-range scorers

If you’re not going to get over that initial screen if you’re not communicating switches on those um if you’re not fighting back if you’re not staying attached these teams are going to carve them up because Rudy wants to drop all the way back to the rim he’s he’s been

Good I’m not saying this is all him um but you know there there’s a lot of cat and mouse game that goes on there and if these point of attack Defenders aren’t staying attached making those mid-range pull-ups really difficult and making and really pressuring the ball handler it

Puts a lot of stress on those weak side guys to make really aggressive rotations which then frees up wide open shots on the other side and that that scrambling defense that we’ve seen throughout most of this year where guys are making multiple rotations in one possession

When they do get beat off ball that’s starting to kind of go by the wayside and we’re seeing maybe one maybe two at most rotations and then guys kind of giving up on the play watching the ball shot goes up that’s where you know their new assignment sneaks behind them for an

Offensive rebound so it it all starts from that immediate point of attack and if guys aren’t getting over those screens and really pressuring the ball and making life difficult for that ball Handler their entire defensive philosophy goes out the window on top of that too only get nine points from Ant

That’s not helping three of 11 shooting from the floor tonight you got to mention okay he broke his career high and assist tonight with 11 but why such a quiet night from him because usually I mean these two are like Batman and Robin right I mean we’ve seen plenty of times

Plenty of games just because one guy’s putting up good points doesn’t mean the other one can’t too in fact I think they still lead the league with the most or more points combined from both of them in the same game in the entire NBA so I

I know there was reports he was dealing with some sort of illness of some kind but outside of that I guess why was he so ineffective putting the ball through the hoop tonight what did you see from Ant I I I hope he was sick um right you

Hope he played like it um I mean there there was nothing from him defensively there’s no energy on that end of the floor but offensively he was just weirdly differential in almost to an extent that we’ve really never seen from him um you know you you mentioned Kobe

At the top of the show and it being the 18th anniversary of his 81-point game it kind of reminded me of that outing where Kobe just didn’t take any shots and just kept passing up open stuff after he got ridiculed for uh his lack of passing and

His lack of playmaking and he made it a point I don’t think that was necessarily the what ant was going for tonight but it just kind of felt like that where the tallest that Charlotte played tonight was 6′ n and should be feasting at the rim and

You know there should be plenty of lobs to Rudy I can’t remember a single lot being thrown to Rudy and there were a lot of times where ant would beat his guy um on that first step in the initial Drive no one’s at the rim and he would

Either you know use a snatchback dribble and take a mid-range pullup we saw that really late uh around the minute two minute Mark in the fourth quarter from him or he would just kick out instead of just taking it all the way to the rim so

I have to think I you know and I I hope that it was an illness thing and he’s really not feeling well and he just didn’t feel like he had that burst and explosiveness to get to the rim and finish there consistently because there were looks there were a lot of really

Good looks for him to to be had there and he just completely ignored him yeah well said there and uh as B just mentioned in the comments earlier he only had two points in the first half last game versus OKC as well granted ended up with 28 but but that’s back

Toback games now where he’s been I mean virtually invisible for a huge chunk a huge part of the game at least when it comes to the bar we’ve obviously set now for him scoring points I’m just curious you’ve watched a lot more basketball than I have how tough is it when a guy’s

As hot as cat as a teammate to find the balance of feeding the hot hand but being careful not to overcompensate and make sure you’re staying committed to the game plan so you come away with the win obviously because obviously as fun as towns night was tonight to lose a

Game at home in which your 14-point favorites versus a 8 and 31 team that burns man that really stings so how do you not let that happen as a coach and a teammate when a guy’s cooking with gas like he was tonight just in general I

Guess what what do you want to see from them if you could do that second half over again as far as you know stuff like ball movement and offensive game plan goes yeah and it’s really tough because when cats has over 100% effective field goal right in the first

It’s not you know it’s kind of tough to come out of halftime and be like all right my time to shine here we go um I’m going to start calling my own number it’s it’s tough to do that um but when you know they start sending doubles and

When cat racks up his fifth sixth seventh turnover and the offense keeps stalling out over and over and over again that’s where the VA value of a an actual point guard kind of comes into play and we didn’t have Mike Conley tonight I I I find it tough to believe

That Conley if Conley was playing tonight that he doesn’t settle the offense down late in that game get them back into their spots doesn’t allow it to stall out for that five six minute stretch in the mid to late fourth quarter there like it did um some

Different things would be just they had no size go to the Post like go go post up uh run a a four five pick and roll with c and Rudy get Rudy running to the rim doing something exploit that size a little bit we saw when the couple times

That Rudy did rim run out of the pick and roll they would send three four guys to them and that left guys like Jaden and nikelle wide open in the corners I know they didn’t have great shooting nights but if you’re I nikil was four

Six from three but if you’re G to get those wide open Corner three looks take them and if they don’t send four Dudes on you know to chip Rudy’s rooll then you have an easy lob over a six seven Center so it just felt like all right

We’re just going to let Carl will take the ball now in the second half and do whatever he wants with it um I don’t necessarily fault Carl for that because that’s just what the entire team in game plan kind of devolved into but there there wasn’t any focus on getting cat

Easy looks um in really high leverage uh spots on the floor it was just kind of here you go I’m going to go stand out of the way now yeah well said all right plenty more Deep dive from this one including the turnover struggles and the

Bench play as well and that’s all coming up next quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by better help what are some things you want to keep the same about yourself or about your life in 2024 where are you already crushing it try ditching all the New Year’s resolutions

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NBA all right just a couple notes observations here I’m just combing through the box score here n you mentioned him starting uh starting for Mike Conley tonight 18 points from him big night for him jmck nine points the bench only putting up 14 combined points between Nas Reed slowmo Jordan mlin and

Shake Milton uh I I guess I’ll just let you take this in any direction you want to go as far as what sticked out to you the most from everyone else basically not named cat or ant from this one what caught your eye for good or bad with any one of those individual

Performances um man and it it was it’s tough to find anything consistent or reliable Off the Bench tonight um but you know that’s why they’re coming off the bench because they’re they’re not the guys that you’re supposed to be counting on um it it would have been nice to see a few Troy

Brown minutes um I you know I I know he hasn’t been the most consistent player but for him to completely fall out of the rotation uh feels strange um just having his size his athleticism his Mobility I think would have been a a nice counter to having Kyle Anderson out

There um defending some threes and fours that kind of pretty consistently blew by him on defense uh Kyle really struggled defensively he was one of the big issues containing that point of attack like I was talking about earlier and you know I know Troy Brown’s not this defensive

Stalwart but just he’s a little more Fleet of foot uh moves a little easier can contain those guys a little more effectively plus the outside shooting that he provides so it it would have been nice to try and see what he looked like out there um and you know maybe

When Rudy was off the court you move cat to the five Kyle to the four then you have Troy Brown as that off ball shooter a little more athletic uh Defender and then you can move Kyle onto PJ Washington or someone who’s who’s a little more heavy-footed for Charlotte

And he’s not stuck trying to contain um Brandon Miller and then switching on to Terry Rosier so I I I think that would have been one of the changes that I would have preferred to see but it’s kind of consistent with the rotations he’s been running recently uh we haven’t

Talked in a few weeks you and I but Saturday the hot conversation outside of the refs of course was all about the turnovers something that’s obviously been a massive thorn in their side all year long 65 turnovers versus the Thunder in their last three games 13 more tonight which is actually 13 that’s

Below their season average but just in general usually no matter the opponent it’s been a big problem this year I I just love your two cents on what’s the issue and I guess is this just who they are and and maybe we might just have to

Accept it because we’re 43 games in now man over halfway through the season so I guess it’s kind of tough to assume any drastic or dramatic changes are coming or from what you’re seeing you’re the x’s and those guys is there still some reason for I don’t know some hope and

Optimism when it comes to you know cleaning those kinds of things up I mean there there there’s always hope right we we should always have hope as mes Minnesota sports fans um but and historically real true Championship contenders don’t turn the ball over as much as the

Timber rols are they’re in like the bottom five with teams like San Antonio um Detroit Washington some of the worst in the league so if they really really really do expect to be in the finals or Western Conference finals and be fighting for a ring at the end of this

Like I think that should be the expectation at this point they they have to clean it up um what we see I mean it’s it’s always tough when Conley’s not out there to kind of to steady the ship um but and a lot of ants turnovers have come when he’s trying to navigate

Traffic and when he gets multiple hands digging in uh from help help Defenders he tends to just really fumble the ball away um against OKC he was trying to do too much in terms of passing and playmaking and that consistency from his passing isn’t quite there yet we you

Know we know cat’s good for one or two offensive fouls a game and you wild pass that sail into the fifth row too so I think it’s just kind of who this team is and especially when Mike Conley’s off the floor whether resting like he was

Tonight or just going to the bench for a handful of minutes because he has to sit they don’t really have anyone else to kind of steady the ship um Kyle Anderson’s been super turnover prone too which is kind of rare for him um but like we saw leaden the game here when he

Gets into that kind of really slowed elongated Euro Step he’s often leaving his feet and if the help Defenders not or if the the help Defenders are staying home on their guys whether it’s a shooter in the corner or staying tight to Rudy on the role he kind of gets lost

In no man’s land and just throws it away like we saw him in the final minute tonight so it it’s really tough and there I don’t think there is an easy solution for it right now other than guys just simplifying their games and just taking what’s in front of them and

Not trying to do too much uh I always like to spend a quick 60 seconds or so on the oppos opposing Team every night I know Charlotte not a team that you know the wolves are going to play 50 times a year but just talk to me about the

Hornets team that was 14-point underdogs coming in but tonight I mean they just look like the better team and can clearly shoot the lights out with the talent they have Miller and bridges man they were money all night just just tell us a little bit more about Charlotte

Their young core they’re building over there right now and I guess how far away are they from being maybe really competitive again in your eyes yeah and the the big story for them tonight was just their mid-range shooting they shot 72.7% from the mid-range tonight and big culprits in

That were Brandon Miller Terry Rosier lamelo ball miles Bridges um the the building blocks for this team are Brandon Miller and lamelo ball they’re really really talented we saw why we saw tonight why Brandon Miller went second overall um to Charlotte he is a legit bucket getter incredible size good Defender

Um you know people kind of ragged on him at Alabama because all he took was mostly threes and was pretty inconsistent around the rim but in high school he was this mid-range assassin that people were comparing to Demar D rozan um we saw that tonight we’ve started seeing that from him all season

Uh they also didn’t have Mark Williams playing tonight he’s been hurt uh recently so I think Mark Williams Brandon Miller lamelo ball that’s kind of the core that they’re looking to build around it’s tough not to get excited long term they’ve been really really bad

This year but I think that’s more so a testament to kind of being a funky roster and the the role players is not necessarily complementing their young core so after some of these guys contracts either expire or they move them or trade them or whatever but I

Think two three years from now when Brandon Miller ball Williams are really hitting their stride and getting into their Prime if they’ve done a just a decent job of kind of filling in the space around them I I think Hornets fans should be pretty excited about how kind

Of talented and at very least how fun their offense be at least they’re fun man yeah it’s like the NFL it’s like if we’re going to lose can we lose 501 to 50 can it be a shootout can it be fun throw up some home runs and some Splash

Plays and fireworks along the way just kind of uh stemming off that I’m an NFL draft nerd I just love that stuff man yeah don’t know the NBA as well as you do but that 2020 class I just pulled it up there’s some studs in the mix now man

You got ant number one overall lamelo 3 Hal Burton 12 Tyrese Maxi 21 Jaden McDaniels 29 what do you think about that class and where it is now is it better worse or kind of what you expected um I I think it’s a little better than kind of consensus um thought

Of it going going into it um you know that that was the covid year where we had like two two extra months of draft rep and we all and myself especially had just overthought way too much of it there was those weird Intel stories coming out especially about ant and how

He just didn’t even like basketball that that’s not that turned out not to be true um but it it it just kind of showed the the the pitfalls of overthinking stuff and almost having too much time to prepare because there there’s been a lot of really talented guys to come out of

It and um you know if you did a redraft it would look very very different than for yeah absolutely yeah that would be a lot of fun to read an article about something like that I see a lot NFL draft redo drafts where would these guys go now Lamar Jackson all right number

One overall 2017 quarterback class was crazy I digress a quick look at the schedule and what’s on Deck moving forward that’s all coming up next quick reminder tonight’s episode brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more with America’s number one sports book and official Sportsbook partner of the NBA right now new

Customers you’re getting $150 in bonus bonus bets when you place any and I mean any $5 wager $150 in bonus bets when you throw down just $5 on any bet and you don’t even have to win this promo was made for a guy like me and I know you’re

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In the entire NBA season and it’s by far the easiest and simplest betting app to use go check it out for yourself visit fanduel.com lockon that’s fanduel.com lockon today America’s number one Sportsbook FanDuel official partner of the NBA all right schedule coming up now the next few games Wizards Nets Spurs all on

The road but all three teams if the season were to end today would not make the playf so I mean I guess you’re hoping for some tuneup games there before you meet OKC again Monday the 29th what’s your thoughts when you hear that stretch though what’s what’s got to

Happen what do you want to see the most from this wolves team I mean three wins would be fantastic would be nice let’s start there but you know preferably three kind of just convincing wins where they don’t get out to a big lead and then let their

Gu or let the other team work their way back into it due to complacency like we saw tonight and kind of in recent games like I Pistons wasn’t super convincing the final of that Memphis game ended up being uh a bit more extreme than what

The game was um you know uh it’s just just go take care of business because you don’t want to go into that Oklahoma City matchup tired and fatigued or injured um because you you want to go back and even that series with the Thunder because that could be a huge

Tiebreaker come playoff time um so I I think three convincing wins where the defense kind of gets back to what it has been for 99% of this year where guys are really shutting down the opponents and sticking to their assignments executing their responsibilities and you know yeah

It’d be great if the offense really kind of started flowing and what not too but I I think just reestablishing that defensive dominance is going to be really really important headed heading into that o OKC game uh trade deadline creeping up two three weeks to go give me give me one

Move move you’re banging the table for that maybe you’ve kind of drawn up that says okay this is realistic and it makes sense it behooves this roster and team what’s one trade that again is just in the realm of being realistic you’re drawn up for the Wolves if you’re

Playing GM God man it’s it’s tough because every team I look at you know the the ones where you’re like oh that would be a fun fit they’re in like that 15 to18 million range and don’t really have the salaries to make that I I don’t think all fans realize how difficult it

Is it’s fun to sit here and draw up and talk about and and you know kind of daydream about this stuff it is difficult when it comes to the logistics there’s so many different variables and all of sports to actually get a lot of deals done at the trade deadline which

Is why outside of baseball you just don’t see a ton yeah and you know have to remember other team has to say yes so I can’t just you know package Shake Milton Troy Brown wend more you know and a c Luca Garza some guys who aren’t playing to

Get to 15 million and give it to the other team they’re not going to want that um one that I’m really kind of intrigued by and there there are two names Luke Canard tyus Jones I think are the two kind of really intriguing names I’m not sure how feasible either of

These are but basically the package consists of um one of Troy Brown and Troy brown or Shake Milton plus Kyle Anderson matches on money for both of those guys um the earliest first that this team can trade out is the 2029 pick which I don’t think either team would be

Uber excited about out maybe Memphis a little more uh since they can be a little more patient but Canard has a team option after this year so expiring cont contract basically tus is a free agent after this year but I believe that his bird RS come with him so they the

Wolves could theoretically go over the cap to resign him um and you know kind of have that point guard stability going forward so I it’s tough it’s tough I I really don’t think there’s a realistic move for them to make and there are a lot of names out there that you know you

Could kind of get excited about like a royce O’Neal or um Dorian finny Smith or Alex Caruso but every time I look at what the Wolves can offer realistically and what someone else can offer I I just don’t think the wolves are going to have

The best package at the end of the day no well said I’m glad you’re being realistic about it and again maybe tempering expectations for a lot of fans thinking about all right okay starting to struggle getting a little cold here back-to-back losses at home first time

All year hey what kind of deal maybe they got to go make a splash before the deadline all right easier said than done that’s all we’re saying uh well done tonight though as always great to see you again glad again we’re able to come on here and vent with everyone after

Some of these tough losses despite cat’s career record setting 62 points the Wolves dropped this one they dropped a 30 and 12 on the year all of a sudden they watched that lead shrink to just a half game with the Thunder and the Nuggets now breathing down their neck

Back on the road for the next three starting with the Wizards Wednesday night that tip off 6 PM Central Standard Time and again another matchup with that OKC team just a week away as well as always huge shout out to everyone that joined us in the postcast always love

Everyone’s feedback and comments and notes every night rest assured we’ll be back each and every game same time same place right here to break it all down got to go check out all of Tyler’s work on Twitter at teaf 11 by the way anything new coming out Tyler or

Anything again we haven’t spoken at least 10 days if not two weeks anything new over the last two weeks weeks or so that we should go check out uh couple Timberwolf slings I’m working on but not not not no no specific date um but if you’re a draft fanatic uh go check out

Noing nba.com I’ll have some stuff up um Friday but we have stuff going up every day over there too love that keeping my eyes peel for that for sure and make sure you check out the Minnesota basketball party with the full crew you got Sam extrom golfer Legend Ron Johnson

Carol Evans Reggie Wilson that’s each and every Wednesday afternoon and on top of that if you haven’t already got to go check out Ben Beacon he’s spitting some hot fire over on the lock on wolves podcast each and every day as well that’ll do it for us tonight he’s Tyler

Meaf I’m Luke Inman on Twitter lukor spin until next time signing out

The Minnesota Timberwolves lose their second straight game despite Karl Anthony-Towns’ monster night. Join Luke Inman and Tyler Metcalf for the immediate reaction and breakdown after the game.