Wolves' Towns steps up vs. playoff teams

Welcome to the 2017-18 edition of the Timberpups Tracker. This year, we’re taking a different tact. With Minnesota having taken over a G League franchise in Iowa, and renaming it the Wolves, each Thursday we’ll either track the progress of the players who might be of help to the Timberwolves in the future or a current member of the Minnesota roster. We’ll also give updates on the other young players from the previous week.

This is the 15th edition of the 2017-18 Timberpups Tracker.



SPOTLIGHT ON …

Center Karl-Anthony Towns

As it turns out, the best way to replace Jimmy Butler might just be getting the ball in Towns' hands as much as possible.

"KAT" had his biggest game of the year Tuesday, scoring a season-high 37 points and going 13-for-17 from the field to lead the Wolves to a comeback win over the Washington Wizards. He went 3-for-3 from deep against the Wizards, hitting a critical 3-pointer following the Wolves' final timeout to push the lead to 114-109 with 29 seconds to play.

All that after scoring 31 points and grabbing 16 boards Sunday in a win over the Warriors. Towns hit a deep 2 late and grabbed an offensive rebound to put the Wolves up 108-103 with 37 seconds left.

Towns is attempting just 13.8 field goals per game this season -- 24th in the league -- down from 14.1 as a rookie and 18.0 last season. He bucked that trend in both games, putting up 24 shots against the Warriors and 17 against the Wizards.

For context, James Harden leads the league at 20.4 per game, followed by Towns analog Anthony Davis at 19.4 per game. Jimmy Butler leads the Wolves with 15.8, which ranks 20th.

Despite those highs, Towns' numbers have been all over the place recently. Prior to the Golden State and Washington games, Towns had attempted 12, 19, 10, 20 and 15 shots in his previous five full games. He attempted just six in an eight-point loss to the Utah Jazz on March 2, but was ejected after playing just over 20 minutes.

The Warriors game was just the fifth time this season Towns has had at least 20 field-goal attempts. However, all but two of those performances predate Butler's injury.

Regardless of his usage, Towns' numbers are monstrous for a player so young. He turns 23 in November, and needs just seven more points to become a member of the 5,000-point, 2,500-rebound club.

He'd be just the fourth player to make it before turning 23, joining Shaquille O'Neal, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. The kicker? Towns is the only player of that group to make more than 19 3-pointers before turning 23 -- he currently has 230 -- and leads the group with an 83.5 free-throw percentage.

TRACKING TIMBERPUPS

-- Newcomer Derrick Rose doesn't appear to be eating into Tyus Jones' minutes much. Jones played 12:14 against the Warriors and 19:26 against Washington. He went 7-for-9 from the field and scored 16 points with seven assists.

-- Andrew Wiggins has shot pretty well since going just 6-for-21 from the field against the Boston Celtics last week. He was .500 or better in both games, going 16-for-30 overall.

-- Justin Patton had six assists for the Iowa Wolves on Monday, nearly matching his season high of seven.