Sacrificing statistics, Karl-Anthony Towns rides selflessness to All-Star Game

Karl-Anthony Towns will take the floor Sunday in his third All-Star Game with numbers that aren't much different from the numbers he put up the last two seasons when he didn't make the game.

So why will Towns be playing Sunday night?

One, the Wolves are winning this season and sit in the No. 7 seed entering the final 23 games of the season. But going beyond that, one of the reasons the Wolves are winning this season is because Towns has done whatever the Wolves have asked him.

"One of the things I'm realizing, especially in these recent games, is just how much I'm letting the game come to me," Towns said earlier this month. "I'm not really chasing anything. I'm just letting the game come to me, making the right plays and just trusting our team that everything will come back around. I feel like the game is just really slow, and that's a testament to work on the court and the coaches and just great film, great studying and just getting wiser and older."

Perhaps no statistic represents this more than Towns' rebounding numbers. He is averaging 9.7 rebounds per game. That would be a career low for Towns should it hold the rest of the season.

That important statistic is one voters use to evaluate whether players should be in an All-Star Game and Towns has seen it go down. It's not as if Towns became suddenly worse at rebounding. Instead, the number is a product of what the Wolves have asked Towns to do on the defensive end of the floor.

This season, the Wolves changed their defensive scheme and had Towns more involved in defending pick-and-roll actions with a so-called "high wall" where Towns would help defend a guard dribbling around a screen instead of retreating to the basket in a drop coverage, as he had in previous seasons.

This meant Towns was often farther from the basket when opponents shot the ball and meant it was harder for him to get the rebound. But the defensive tactic worked, and though the Wolves slipped in their defensive coverage the last few weeks — they have been incorporating new schemes — they have a top-15 defense at the All-Star break.

"I always felt great guarding guards one-on-one," Towns said. "I felt very comfortable. So I just wanted to put that out there more so we could utilize that kind of talent and skill set that I have defensively for our benefit. I just always felt very confident in my skills, in my feet and the way I've been able to move throughout my career."

On offense, Towns has played inside and outside. He shoots threes when needed. He has taken the ball to the glass more of late as defenses adjust to him and the Wolves as a whole. He has combated double teams and sometimes struggled against them and his frustration might get the better of him. But over the past 15 games, the Wolves have the best offensive efficiency in the NBA and Towns is a big reason for that, even if his scoring is down slightly from a season ago and two seasons ago.

"Defensively, I think he's been way more impactful than some of his previous seasons," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "Most importantly, he's a leader of a team who's ... playing winning basketball and I think he's been instrumental in changing our approach and everything we do."

Towns has played under Finch for almost a year. Towns had a lot of respect and admiration for Finch's predecessor, Ryan Saunders, and Towns said recently Finch did a good job of filling what were large shoes in his eyes.

"He's just such a bright mind when it comes to basketball," Towns said. "He's just so creative when it comes to his offensive schemes and defensive schemes and that says a lot about Finch and the way I feel about Finch and how highly I think of him. Because the guy before him was a man I would die for in Ryan, so for him to come in and have to fill his shoes, that's a tall task, especially with someone like me."

The pairing has helped Towns get back to the All-Star Game. He didn't do it by putting up even gaudier numbers than previous seasons. He bought in to what Finch was selling and though it sometimes came at a cost to his overall numbers. He did and the Wolves began winning — and the individual accolades soon followed.