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Coach Finch Puts an End to Karl-Anthony Towns’ “Wrestling Match” Amid Struggles

Published 03/05/2024, 12:36 AM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

The recent faceoff between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers concluded just a few hours ago. With the former team currently placed as the 2 seed on the Western Conference points table and the latter ranked as the 2 last, it wasn’t that hard for fans to predict upon whom the odds will shine the most. While the Timberwolves added another victory through a score of 119-114, there was a lack of good performance from star players Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.

When asked about the same during the post-game press conference, team coach Chris Finch stated his belief that the duo are just “chasing the game too much” and emphasized on the need to focus more on ample decision-making.

“I think Ant, for sure tonight, was looking to facilitate. We talked about getting that ball moving early so everyone can touch it. He has to make sure he doesn’t lose his aggressiveness,” said Finch.

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For Anthony-Towns, the coach said that the player needs to focus more on “spacing”.

“Right now, we’re trying to post up in the midrange way too much. It becomes a wrestling match, bogs down the floor” Finch added. “Looking forward to a good film session coming up here after our day off and starting to build things back in a better way.”

READ MORE: “I Was So Depressed”: Fallen NFL Icon Discloses How LeBron James Gave Him a Fighting Chance

Karl-Anthony Towns had been managing a good average of 22.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists during the ongoing regular season. This is probably the reason why his score of 14 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist against the Trail Blazers today was allegedly looked down with disappointment. The recent incident was unfortunately not an isolated one, since the player’s performance has been dropping significantly over the past few games. While Coach Finch has passed the blame onto Anthony-Town’s “spacing” issue, others have raised the doubt whether the actual reason is maybe related to something more personal.

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A Timberwolves insider reportedly faults a personal death for Karl-Anthony Towns’ “lack of focus”

‘The Athletic’ journalist and Timberwolves insider Jon Krawczynski recently highlighted Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns’ poor performance, highlighting that the same may be attributed to both players experiencing personal dilemmas at the moment.

“Anthony Edwards just had a baby two days ago and Karl-Anthony Towns buried a high school teammate and friend not even a week ago” Krawczynski wrote. “Does not excuse the loss. But I think it’s a little chaotic right now. Unsettled”.

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Krawczynski maintained his opinion that the on-court issues faced by the duo were something that existed and that he is not 100% confirming the dilemmas as the main reason. However, he also maintained that “there could be a little lack of focus right now as they try to resolve those issues”.

What are your thoughts on Karl-Anthony Towns’ recent performance? Let us know in the comments down below.

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Written by:

Ashmit Kumar

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Ashmit is an NBA Content Analyst at EssentiallySports. Having started as a writer, he specializes in writing captivating stories that include the elements of in-depth coverage of teams, players and more. Due to his knowledge of the technicalities of the sport, Ashmit writes perspective pieces that provide well-researched analysis.
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Edited by:

Sameen Nawathe