Timberwolves flop against Knicks, hear boos from a crowd reuniting with Karl-Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns sat on the opposing bench before Thursday’s game soaking in the adoration of a crowd that watched him stick with the franchise through thick and a lot of thin over his nine seasons.

He smiled as a video package played in his honor and those in the arena rose to their feet to give him an ovation.

Then the game started, and Towns made the crowd rise again — to head early to the exits — as his new team, the Knicks, thumped the Wolves 133-107 in his return. Towns was the main reason why. After a slow start, he and the Knicks dominated from the second quarter onward, and he sent pangs of regret coursing through a fan base already on edge that President Tim Connelly might have erred in sending him to New York in September for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

The Wolves offense wasn’t great last season (17th in efficiency), but the team got to the Western Conference finals with Towns. The offense was frustrating to watch and isolation-heavy Thursday. Couple that with a defense that took a step back after a strong couple of weeks, and the crowd began booing multiple times. The performance left Anthony Edwards (17 points, 7-for-16 shooting) scratching his head over where the offense was. Seeing Towns put up 32 points and 20 rebounds only makes this search for an offensive identity more frustrating because the Wolves traded away someone who could’ve helped.

“We don’t have no [offensive] identity,” Edwards said. “We know I’mma shoot a bunch of shots. We know [Randle] gonna shoot a bunch of shots. That’s all we know. We don’t really know anything else. It’s not on the coaches at all. It’s on us. We out there playing, but we got to make it easier for each other. Coaches put us in great position, too, man. We just don’t do it.”

Edwards also said, when asked what he needs to see from the offense going forward: “They not gonna like what I say, so I’m just gonna keep my answers to myself.”

Edwards’ absolution of the coaching staff in the team’s offensive struggles won’t placate those who think coach Chris Finch isn’t doing all he can to facilitate the offense, even while he has added more structure in terms of play calls. Randle led the Wolves with 24 points, five turnovers. Rudy Gobert had three points, four rebounds and was a minus-37.

“A lot of plays throughout that part of the game, but we’re gonna have to get back to doing what we always do; we know what works,” Finch said. “When we move the ball early, get other guys involved, shots will open up.”

There wasn’t much ball movement, especially as the game spiraled out of control in a second quarter the Wolves lost 41-18. Towns was especially lethal in that quarter with 19 points and six rebounds.

“We short closed him out about a half-dozen times. We should know that,” Finch said. “That’s just a personnel thing. It wasn’t a scheme thing.”

Towns went 10-for-12, including 5-for-5 from three-point range.

“[My teammates] understood the game was a big game for me, personally,” Towns said. “It was a personal game, and for them to be supporting me the way they did meant a lot.”

Towns knew the game was going to be “wild” and “weird” when he spoke after shootaround Thursday morning. But there were wide smiles throughout the night for him and for his former teammates. He and Edwards met at center court at tipoff and exchanged the pregame handshake they did for four seasons with the Wolves.

“I told them when we was down 30, I can’t show my happiness for you, but hell yeah, I was super happy for him, man,” Edwards said. “That’s everything you dream of. Get traded, come back, beat your team by 30. It’s everything you dream of. I can’t be mad right now. I’m happy for him for sure. I’m mad that we lost, but on the inside we super happy for him. That’s my dog.”

The feeling was mutual from Towns, who said Edwards is more of a brother to him than a friend and former teammate.

“If he ever needs anything, he’s got a brother in me,” Towns said. “If he ever called me and was in any trouble, I’d be the first one to respond. He knows he’s got a big bro in me. I’ve only ever wanted to amplify him and give him nothing but the best experience being in the NBA and guide him through this whirlwind of being a pro. I’m just honored that I was able to be a part of his journey.”

That journey includes a lot of searching right now for what Edwards and the team can do on offense. Edwards is fighting a lot of crowds when he tries to enter the paint.

“I can’t do nothing if there’s no lanes,” Edwards said. “It’s not open. Every team we play did a great job of sitting in the gaps. When I get to the rim, putting four people at the rim. I’m sorry, people, there’s nothing I can do with going to the hole right now.”

The elder statesman of the team, point guard Mike Conley, said the Wolves need “elite” spacing to function properly and need more cutting to open the offense.

“It’s got to be like a habit for each individual guy,” Conley said. “Everybody coming in here has their own habits, their own strengths and weaknesses — some of them more glaring than others. For guys who need to work on it, we need to double down in practice on what we have to do to make those individuals better at cutting, spacing, pushing the ball, being more aggressive, making the right reads on time.”

Down the back hallway of Target Center shortly after Conley spoke, Towns was finishing his media session with reporters. He acknowledged how special the win was without saying anything negative about his former team, of which he said he was still an “avid” fan. But there had to be some satisfaction in Towns playing so brilliantly and his old team floundering in a way that he could have helped.

“You know this game wasn’t just another game,” Towns said. “If anyone told you otherwise that’s a lie.”