Film Room: How Karl-Anthony Towns Dominated Game 6 for the Timberwolves

In all of NBA history, there have been exactly 100 different instances of an NBA player scoring at least 10 points, grabbing at least 13 rebounds and dishing at least five assists in a playoff Game 6.

I didn’t use the fine-tooth comb on the weight and importance of each of those games; some may have been blowouts. Some may have been double-overtime thrillers. Some were losses and some were wins. I imagine at least a handful carried the burden of involving a team that had a dream-like season on the line, their fanbases clinging to every possession for dear life and their players minutes away from wondering what uniform they’d be wearing the following fall.

I surely haven’t watched all 100 of those games, but I can tell you one thing: Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns’ name made the list, and I watched that game very closely. It’s one of the best he’s ever played.

Let’s get into why.

Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

Defense on Nikola Jokić

The Denver Nuggets posted up 18 times through the three quarters that mattered in Game 6. They scored 0.61 points per possession on those post-ups, per Synergy. Who’s the one player getting a catch on the block for Denver? The best player in the world, Nikola Jokić. Towns was and always has been the primary defender in the Timberwolves defensive scheme against the Nuggets. Some people haven’t caught onto that yet after 19 meetings between the two teams in the last two seasons.

What makes Towns the best counter to an 81st percentile post-up player who has a playmaking supercomputer between his ears? It all starts with where the catch occurs and how Towns holds up on the first backdown dribble.

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The Nuggets run this “wedge” screen for Jokić a ton to get him an isolated catch on his own side of the floor. From there, it’s a long recovery and rotation for a defense that wants to double-team him, and four players on the weak side can cut, relocate or space for a great scoring opportunity.

But once again, the design is predicated on the Joker gaining an advantage first. Most often that comes in his immense upper body strength to bully and bury his defender closer to the paint and then get the nearest off-ball defender to commit on a trap.

Towns, not known for his balance or body-to-body physicality on defense throughout his whole career, has made each of these attempts by Jokić take more time and effort to get to the desired playmaking spot. Though not as defined or cut, he is thicker than Gobert up top, and the three-time MVP has more trouble backing down Towns than anyone else in the league. The resistance allows for shorter distances to double-team and get the ball out of Jokić’s hands faster than he’d like. It often results in a quicker shot with less strain on the Wolves’ helpside defense, like this clip. Mike Conley gets a strong contest on Michael Porter Jr. and forces a miss. That’s a win.

On this play late in the first quarter, KAT’s resistance with his chest is important to keep Joker from getting a foot in the paint. He’s hard for anyone to stop once he gets that position (yes, Draymond Green, anyone). But the first step to the defensive possession win is how Karl moves his feet on the spin move at the elbow.

KAT knows he has to be physical with Jokić. You can’t let him have space within the arc — and Towns has picked up some silly hip and hand check fouls in this series by being aggressive into Joker before he actually has to. He moves his feet beautifully to stay between his man and the rim, survives one body bump and then forces someone else to make the shot.

Now the Wolves start adding some more moving parts to the scheme on Denver post-ups. Once again, Karl’s resistance on the first dribble gives his teammates time to dig from the perimeter and rotate back to their shell defense. Adding Jaden McDaniels’ length and activity to the double-team forces a speedy decision from Jokić, albeit an otherworldly pass, but Ant recovers enough for a good contest on Porter Jr.

KAT’s ability to hold up his position and not allow his man — much less this Serbian superstar — to get any closer to the paint after the post touch is frankly something that nobody else in the league is doing well.

Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

Offense

Remember that post-up efficiency stat I shared in the previous section? The Nuggets scored 0.61 points per possession on post-ups?

Polar opposite for the Timberwolves — they scored 1.64 points per possession on 14 post-up instances.

And who do the Timberwolves design post-ups for the most? Karl-Anthony Towns.

The play type has been a point of tension for anyone who follows or covers the team for a long time. KAT came out of college as a jump hook savant — that might still be his primary offensive resource if he didn’t come into the league the same year Stephen Curry turned it upside down from beyond the arc.

And none of that is to say Karl isn’t still a good post player; if he has single coverage against a smaller defender, he gets to that jump hook with ease. He had a really pretty one in the game Thursday.

But in the playoffs and even the regular season, teams aren’t going to make it that easy. He had a really tough time making good decisions out of a post-up when defenses sent a second guy at him — a Towns post touch that involved a hard double-team or the defense committing a second player near him resulted in about 0.68 points per possession this season for Minnesota, per Synergy.

Minnesota went to this Horns Out set to gain a size advantage switch for KAT’s post touches in the third quarter. Conley pops out to the wing, and instead of Gobert setting an empty ball screen to get an efficient look, it’s KAT.

But this is no standard pick-and-roll. The inexplicable decision Denver is making to switch even the slightest resistance on a screen or exchange allows Towns to get Jamal Murray on his back for a post touch.

Now Aaron Gordon has to help Murray, and it’s 4-on-3 basketball from there. Towns actually takes a retreat dribble on this touch, not attempting to get closer to the basket! Gordon doesn’t need to leave Conley quite yet, but he does and forces a rotation from Porter Jr. on the weak side.

Towns’ retreat dribble was not for nothing — it opened up a perfect passing lane across the court to find the hot-shooting Jaden McDaniels. This pass from KAT is unbelievable. It’s Joker-level in accuracy and velocity. One extra pass to Gobert in the dunker spot and he takes care of business for the easy two.

KAT also displayed a little more urgency when the double-team came late. Here he puts down his dribble toward the middle of the floor quickly on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and uses his strength and length to shoot right over him with a foot in the paint.

One more for good measure. With Anthony Edwards one pass away, Gordon hesitates on leaving him for the Towns double-team. That’s all the time Karl needs to get his jump hook rhythm over KCP once again.

I’d expect the Wolves to continue going back to this look after its efficiency in Game 6. The only tweak I’d see happening is being more strategic about placing personnel one pass away from Towns’ post-ups. I like Mike Conley being there so he can make a great decision on the Denver recovery, whether it’s letting a shot rip from deep or finding the extra pass. Anthony Edwards being two passes away also makes lots of sense, giving him a runway against a scrambling defense after one extra pass to go hammer something in the paint.

But the key to Game 6 going the way it did was certainly how smart, patient, composed and mission-oriented Karl-Anthony Towns played on both ends of the floor. He kept it simple and found the best way to win the game within the game — not the scoring game, not the flashiness game, but the ultimate win-or-go-home scenario game.

Here’s to a Game 7 with as much control and high-level processing as he possessed in Game 6.