Karl-Anthony Towns on Wolves record in the West, playoff goals & All-Star criticisms | First Take

Karl-Anthony Towns on Wolves record in the West, playoff goals & All-Star criticisms | First Take

Oh we got a big game tonight on ESPN as the Milwaukee Bucks face the Minnesota Timberwolf Stephen A is down there in Minnesota part of our all access coverage and with us now star Carl Anthony towns Kat thank you so much for being with us this

Morning no pleasure good to see you bro good to see you good to see you man I saw that jump shot at Allstar okay Stephen A you you you saw you saw the one I made not the 15 I missed before I bust my ass but that’s a different story

For another day it’s good to see you my brother it’s good to see you good to see it’s good to see you it’s great to have you with us so this might arguably the best t-wolves team you’ve been on right since entering the league in 2015 what

Would it mean to you personally if this Timberwolves team finish with the best record in the west and we know how thick it is I mean it would mean a lot it would just show that all the work we’ve put in since the off season and in uh training

Camp has uh come to fruition and we are are ending up being the team that we wanted to be the team we talked about ourselves being since day one uh it would mean a lot but it’s going to mean more if we could do something with that

Number one seat in the playoffs so uh it’s going to be a great achievement if we could accomplish it I feel like we could accomplish it I think we all have the confidence we could do it uh but it’s about doing uh something with that record in the

Playoffs uh uh Molly before I ask my question of Carl Anthony towns you have a right to know uh that you know Carl Anthony towns is involved one of the stupidest predictions I’ve ever made in my life because I had questions about him being the number one overall pick

And his wonderful family never ever ever fails to remind me of that back in the days so so so I mean they had to check me I had to apologize to the town’s family so that’s how far back we go but but Kat I gotta ask you this bro uh when

When Rudy Gober arrived in Minnesota I had my reservations because I said the league plays at relatively you know relatively smaller lineups you you’re going to have folks pulling y’all away from the basket because they know they can’t deal with that height on the front line and as a result it might impede

Y’all success and I think that’s what happened to some degree last year that is not the case this year as y’all are the number one seed right now you’re number one in defensive efficiency talk to me about you and Rudy Go’s relationship and how that has evolved to

Being so effective for y’all this season compared to what we saw last season yeah I think that just timing you know just having time with each other being able to be on the court with each other last year kind of just didn’t go the way it needed Rudy came in after

Playing uh in the summer a little hurt and banged up and then I got obviously hurt last year as well so the timing was off but this off season we got in the gym we worked on our games we we got more familiar with each other and then

As well it came to the season and in Abu Dhabi I think we uh started to see the fruits of our labor you know just seeing the chemistry be there um the trust being there and with him you know he makes all of us a better defensive

Player just because he impacts the game defensively so much so uh being able to trust Rudy on defense all of us and we all raised our game defensively because of him it just shows the impact he has on our team the importance he is to our

Team uh and why I think that why we’re number one in defense is all because of Rudy Gober yeah I want to get into another teammate Anthony Edwards what makes him so special uh I mean just like we you just saw it brings a smile to all of our faces uh I

Think when he uh when he’s playing the game he’s playing right now I think it’s he’s he’s one of the top players in the NBA and then you mix that in with the Charisma and the personality he has uh he’s a huge boost for our locker room as

Well so Anthony Edwards is special uh I keep saying and he hates when I say it but he’s going to be the face of the NBA uh sooner than later so uh we’re just super honored that we all get to play with him we all get to help him in this

Process of maturing and becoming the face and I think that the future is very very bright for him well I I I say I think that says a lot about you because obviously for years you were the star of this team and here you are talking about

How he’s going to be the face of this league so I think that says a lot about you as a teammate and I’ll ask you this question piggybacking off of what you just said about Anthony Edwards when he was chirping back and forth him and Shay

Gil just Alexander I loved it because I think that’s what the NBA is all about anybody everybody just talking about competing against one another at a very high level I think that’s great for the league but I also think it’s emblematic of the personality transplant that he

Has infused in this locker room because because of his Ascension and the kind of and the kind of dog that he is in a very complimentary way I think that’s brought out the best in all of y’all am I wrong in thinking that I think that when you have someone

With that Talent who is playing at the level that he’s playing at right now um uh it’s going to bring out the best of us and of course his character his personality uh makes uh coming to work fun every day uh I could keep singing the Praises of Anthony Edwards I’ve

Watched him since he got drafted and uh just to see the mature how he’s matured and grown as not only as a player but as a man uh I’m proud of him I I’ll say that right now I’m just tremendously proud of him and uh the steps he’s taken

To get to this level right now and there’s more steps to go so uh I think when uh Anthony is playing and and and and showing us you know I think when he’s seeing the game the way he’s seeing it right now it’s going to help all of

Us we this is a team game and for us to uh have one big part of our team uh playing and acting that way it’s going to obviously you know bring up the whole locker room yeah just hearing you speak You’re the ultimate teammate and your humility

Is really impressive as well uh you had a couple impressive scoring nights you dropped 62 one of the best I know it was a loss and then obviously in the allstar game you dropped 50 allstar game wasn’t the most competitive what are your thoughts on all the criticism that came

After that All-Star game from guys like Stephen a uh you know obviously we the fans the fans and and the Legends want to see a more competitive game uh I think for me the only thing I could do is control what I could do and I know that when I

Have those moments when I’m playing on Sunday and I’m honored to be a representing all my team Ates in this organization on that in that game uh I’m going to go out there and compete uh every time I’ve been in an All-Star weekend on a Saturday on a Saturday

Night I’ve always competed at the highest level and nothing’s going to change on Sunday so uh I could only speak for myself when I say you know when every time I step on the court on Sunday and I’m I’m honored and blessed to have the opportunity I’m going to go

Out there and compete uh I thought last Sunday was just me trying to compete at a high level uh do the best I can make my organization my family proud and uh I hope I did that you know I I want you to talk about others we talked about Rudy go we talked

About Anthony Edwards but when we look at you as the number one seed and we think about a team led by Shay gilis Alexander in Oklahoma City one of the things that’s said about them that’s not said about y’all is their girth their size we know they’re young thorough

Breads but in the same breath do they have the size that can really help them as the playoffs arrive nobody is saying that about y’all can you speak to me about y’all depth and your size and how you anticipate that will help y’all come playoff time particularly when you’ve

Got a team as deep and as experienced as the team that knocked y’all off who happens to be the reigning defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets yeah I think for us our uh our size is going to be our greatest Advantage you know the fact that we’ve

Been able to find success playing a two big lineup and also at times we’ve shown the the three big lineup with nas Reed who’s an intrical part of our team so uh to be able to have that size and if we’re shooting the ball the way that

We’ve shown during the season when we’re hot uh it’s hard to make us not uh score over 110 points and uh with our defense being leading the league in below 100 point games uh from opponents uh I think that if we could just find ways to find that that that standard that consistency

Every single night right now while we finish up this regular season we can step into the playoffs as a team that’s ready to hold opponents under 100 points and score over a 100 points uh it’s a recipe for Success uh it’s a standard and a consistency that needs to be built

And and and honed every single day right now while the regular season’s going on so that when we get to the to the playoffs we are that Championship caliber team that we need to be uh I don’t think we’re a final product right now I don’t think we’re at that level

Right now that we need to be and it’s okay we have 27 more games we got had a big game tonight against uh a defending champion in the last few years and Milwaukee Bucks and uh one of the best players in the league in Giannis so we

Have a great opportunity to continue to test ourselves to continue to build continue to find ways to improve as our team finds ourself uh after the last 27 games of this regular season yeah appreciate the mindset love the focus and would love to see a new Squad in it

At the end and I think it’s fair to say the big man position is not dying uh thank you so much no being with us I just want I just want to put on a record Molly right in front of cat right here while he’s on National Television I

Don’t mind now if if this were football I would I would not root for y’all at all because that means I would have to be in Minnesota during the winter time and I ain’t trying to hear that but since I’m told May and June the weather is considerably better I’m cool with it

If y’all end up going deep I I’m all right with it I hear the weather is a lot better it’s cool it’s all right okay I’m good it’s really nice right now it’s really nice you like it you like it you like it all right okay all right 31° right now but okay

Karl-Anthony Towns joins Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim on First Take to talk about the Timberwolves season, his teammates, playoff goals and All-Star criticisms.

0:00 KAT joins First Take!
1:00 Can the Wolves finish with the best record in the West?
3:00 Biggest reason for success this season
5:00 KAT on Anthony Edwards
7:30 Depth and size come playoff time

#espn #nba #karlanthonytowns #timberwolves

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