Draymond Green humorously roasts KAT, reminding us of Timberwolves’ progress

Karl-Anthony Towns scored 50 points in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, a feat that was only slightly more difficult than racking up that many points in an empty gym.

To say that defense was optional in a game that finished with a final score of 211-186 is an understatement, but someone had to score the points and it might as well have been KAT.

As Towns racked up buckets while the West trailed in a blowout, Wolves nemesis Draymond Green -- he of the suspension-worthy headlock on Rudy Gobert earlier this season -- had perhaps the best line of the entire farce of a game Sunday.

“This is like the old Minnesota days,” Green said. “KAT got 40, they down 20.”

Some Wolves fans didn’t like the comment, seeing at as a form of disrespect. I thought it was hilarious -- and completely true, as Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

In KAT’s highest-scoring full season, 2016-17 when he averaged 25.1 points per game, he scored at least 40 points three times. The Wolves went 0-3 in those games. He scored at least 30 points in 21 games. The Wolves went 8-13 in those.

In his highest-scoring season overall -- 2019-20, when he averaged 26.5 points but injuries limited him to just 35 games -- the Wolves went 2-9 in games when Towns scored at least 30 points.

That has changed in a big way this year, as the Wolves are far removed from the “old Minnesota days” Green referenced.

Though the Wolves infamously blew a huge lead in the game earlier this season when Towns went off for 62 points, overall they are 8-3 in his 11 highest-scoring games this season.

It helps tremendously that Towns is more of a co-star -- or supporting actor, depending on the night -- on this year’s team, with fellow All-Star Anthony Edwards carrying more of the load. It helps even more that the Wolves have been the No. 1 ranked defense in the NBA for much of the season.

Add it up and the Wolves are 39-16 and leading the West at the break. And the only resemblance to their old selves came with the league’s best players going half-speed on defense.

Here are four more things to know today:

*Minnesota United is closing in on its new head coach: Eric Ramsay, a Manchester United assistant, who at age 32 would be seven years younger than any other head coach in Major League Soccer.

*The Gophers survived a brief rough stretch to defeat Rutgers on Sunday. Reusse said it was as well as they can play for the 37 minutes that were good.

*Tuesday’s podcast will feature Star Tribune Twins beat writer Bobby Nightengale Jr., with an update on how things are looking for Byron Buxton, the bullpen and more.