MINNEAPOLIS -- Fresh off another disappointing home loss Friday night, Anthony Edwards was asked what needed to change over the final 20 games of the regular season as Minnesota tries to make a playoff push against a daunting schedule.
“Get big fella back. Hopefully soon,” the 21-year-old guard said. “Yeah, that’s the main thing.”
“Big fella” is all-star forward Karl-Anthony Towns, out since late November with a calf strain. Clarity on Towns’ injury has been difficult to find over the past three months, but his teammates seem to have a bead on the big’s recovery timeline.
Friday morning, Edwards said “hopefully” Minnesota would have Towns back within the first seven or eight games after the all-star break – which would put Towns’ return on or around March 10th. That falls in line with what Wolves guard Austin Rivers said on his podcast, “Off Guard.”
“He’s close. He’s in the weight room now, he’s running around,” Rivers said. “… I would have to imagine within the next couple weeks we get him back.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters Thursday that Towns was in “the final stages” of his recovery.
“He’s itching to play. I don’t think that it’s a question of anything like going off path right now. I think it’s just literally just going through the final stages of what that looks like,” Finch said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to be, but talking to him, I definitely sense — more so than any other conversation I’ve had with him up until this point — that he’s chomping at the bit to get back and ready to help this team.”
Friday was the first time Edwards — or anyone on the team, frankly — vocalized the need to get Towns back on the floor. While Minnesota went 10-11 in its first 21 games this season with Towns in action, it’s hard not to think the forward will raise the Wolves’ level of play.
“You add a 24-, 25-point and 10(-rebound) guy on your team, it’s never a bad thing,” Rivers said on his podcast. “So we’re excited. We’re prepared to do it with or without (him), just because we don’t know with certainty that is with Karl. Obviously, we want his body right 100 percent. But as of right now, it looks like a couple of weeks still.”
And there lies the rub. Edwards’ comments came minutes after another game where the guard personally struggled, particularly late in the contest. More pressure to score has fallen on Edwards’ shoulders since the team traded D’Angelo Russell, and Edwards has struggled to take that on in recent games.
He likely views Towns’ presence as a needed release valve more than ever before. But Minnesota can’t simply sit back and wait for Towns’ return. No. 1, there is no guarantee his reinsertion into the lineup will be some magic elixir for a team that has hovered around .500 all season. There will likely be a tricky re-acclimation period that could resemble what the Wolves endured through the first quarter of the season.
Along with that, Minnesota likely has to weather at least six more games — including a difficult four-game West coast road trip that opens Sunday at Golden State — without Towns. Given the fact they entered Saturday’s action tied with New Orleans and Golden State for the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference playoff race, the Timberwolves can’t afford to kick away any of their final 20 games while waiting for anyone’s arrival.
“We have a lot of moving parts, but right now where we can focus and control is the next day, next game,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “We understand KAT is a huge part but, honestly, we don’t have him, so we have to get it done without him until he gets back. That’s on each one of these guys to be accountable for everything you do on both ends of the floor and try to get the most out of each other while we can.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Because we can’t wait two weeks and say KAT’s going to come back and we’re good. We’ve got to do it now and build that chemistry now so that when he does come back, he’s jumping into a situation that can be elevated to another level, and hopefully push us to where we need to be.”
______________________________________________________
This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.
The Trust Project
