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The Minnesota Timberwolves have not been very good lately. Tuesday's 112-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Target Center marked their seventh defeat in eight games, and the lone win of that bunch came in overtime against the woeful Los Angeles Lakers. A time in the early-season playoff mix has fallen to 9-15 and looks headed for a rough few months on its way to the lottery. That's not a terrible outcome for the Wolves given preseason expectations, but they have many questions to answer without a permanent head coach and clear system in place for the future.
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It's hard to get too down on Minnesota, though, because No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns hasn't stopped looking like the Rookie of the Year frontrunner and a future star. Towns put up 18 points on minimal attempts (5-of-7 FG) in a quality display vs. the Nuggets, but two plays from the third quarter emphasized why everyone is so excited about his talent.
First, take a look at this no-look pass that created a trip to the foul line for Kevin Garnett:
Just a few minutes later, Towns followed a missed three-pointer with this acrobatic dunk over two Nuggets:
It's becoming increasingly hard to find something that Towns doesn't do well. He needs work, like any 20-year-old, but we could be looking at an All-NBA First Team player.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets were clearly the better team on Tuesday and suddenly find themselves in a playoff position. The comfortable win (their fifth in six games) raised their record to 11-14, percentage points better than the 10-13 Utah Jazz for No. 8 in the West standings. The schedule has been fairly soft during this stretch, but Denver has proven its strong depth and offensive ability despite (or maybe because of) a right ankle sprain that has kept rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay out of the past two games.
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[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr:*The best slams from all of basketball]
It's hard to get too down on Minnesota, though, because No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns hasn't stopped looking like the Rookie of the Year frontrunner and a future star. Towns put up 18 points on minimal attempts (5-of-7 FG) in a quality display vs. the Nuggets, but two plays from the third quarter emphasized why everyone is so excited about his talent.
First, take a look at this no-look pass that created a trip to the foul line for Kevin Garnett:
Just a few minutes later, Towns followed a missed three-pointer with this acrobatic dunk over two Nuggets:
It's becoming increasingly hard to find something that Towns doesn't do well. He needs work, like any 20-year-old, but we could be looking at an All-NBA First Team player.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets were clearly the better team on Tuesday and suddenly find themselves in a playoff position. The comfortable win (their fifth in six games) raised their record to 11-14, percentage points better than the 10-13 Utah Jazz for No. 8 in the West standings. The schedule has been fairly soft during this stretch, but Denver has proven its strong depth and offensive ability despite (or maybe because of) a right ankle sprain that has kept rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay out of the past two games.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @FreemanEric