BBNBA: T-Wolves take down Bucks, Washington catches fire, Lakers lose

With Kentucky’s basketball season out of the way, why not devote more attention to our wonderful NBA alumnus, several of which played well on Saturday night. Let’s talk KAT, PJ Washington and another Lakers loss.

Towns with 25 & 11 as Minnesota blows by Milwaukee

I’ve rang the same bell on these posts over the past few weeks and I’ll ring it again: The Minnesota Timberwolves are playing as well as any team in the NBA. Following Saturday night’s 138-119 blowout of the defending champions, Minnesota has two more wins than any other team since the All-Star Break at 11-2. They also lead the league in net-rating since the break, outscoring teams by 12.8 points per 100 possessions. Over the course of an entire season, that number would break the all-time record by a significant margin. This year’s Timberwolves aren’t just good, they’re wrecking the opposition over the last month.

Led, of course, by Karl-Anthony Towns. He scored 25 points and knocked down four 3-pointers against the Bucks, while also pulling down 11 rebounds and dishing five assists. The behemoth scorer may not be posting his most prolific season averages, but 2022 is undoubtedly the best season of his career. His team is finally winning!

KAT averages 24.9 points a game this season, but that number could easily be near 30 if he shot the ball as much as most other NBA superstars. He’s 15th in scoring per-game but takes just 16.5 shots a night, which ranks 35th.

The NBA’s top 11 scorers all take 20 shots a game or more. Given how efficient Towns is with just 16.5 shots, it’s reasonable to assume he’d average close to 30 points if he took four more a game. But the Timberwolves are winning with the current distribution of shot attempts. Just crazy to think that Towns has another level or two to reach as a scorer if he wanted to.

Washington’s season-high leads Hornets over Mavericks

Dallas and Luka Doncic have played better basketball than any team besides Minnesota so far in March. Then they ran into PJ Washington and the Charlotte Hornets. Behind 21 points, five made threes and a game-high +29 from Washington, the Hornets cruised to an easy victory. He also made the highlight reel with this finish of a slick pass from LeMelo Ball:

.@MELOD1P WITH THE NO L👀K DIME‼️@PJWashington | @HornetsOnBally pic.twitter.com/JAPG4eBugF
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) March 20, 2022

Those 21 points for Washington marked the highest scoring output of the season for the third-year forward. Not that much, huh? Well, on the most successful Hornets team in quite some time, Washington’s role isn’t primarily to score. It’s a nice boost when he does drop 20+, but scoring isn’t the reason he gets 26 minutes a night. He’s a versatile frontcourt piece who can rebound and defend well enough to play small-ball five and stretches the defense with his 37% 3-point shooting. He’s a perfect role player, and that’s just fine.

The Los Angeles Lakers SUCK.

I’ve done some sort of this headline a dozen or so times over the last couple months. There’s just no other way to slice it: the Lakers are terrible at basketball and only getting worse. Saturday’s eight-point loss in Washington is the latest example.

Since January 9th, the Lakers are tied for the third-worst winning percentage in the entire NBA. Trailed only by the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder — teams that are actively trying to lose — while the Lakers employ one of the two greatest basketball players to ever walk the Earth and are trying desperately to win their way out of the back end of the play-in games. It’s utterly embarrassing how atrocious this group of basketball players is.

Aside from Malik Monk and Wenyen Gabriel, of course. I’m serious. Gabriel’s only played in eight games and Monk is posting career-best numbers across the board. Since returning from a COVID-19 absence just after Christmas, Monk is third on the team in total scoring, averaging 15.4 points while shooting 41.5% from three on 6.3 attempts a game. If every Laker shot like Monk, the Lakers would have a lot fewer losses, I’ll tell you that.

Player	Result	Points	FG(3PA)	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turnovers	Minutes	+/-
Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN)	138-119 W vs. MIL	25	6-12 (4-6)	11	5	2	0	3	31	+26
PJ Washington (CHA)	129-108 W vs. DAL	21	8-14 (5-9)	3	0	0	0	0	28	+29
Malik Monk (LAL)	127-119 L @ WAS	17	6-9 (3-5)	2	3	0	0	2	27	+16
Jarred Vanderbilt (MIN)	138-119 W vs. MIL	9	3-4 (0-1)	8	1	1	0	0	32	+15
Wenyen Gabriel (LAL)	127-119 L @ WAS	4	1-3 (0-0)	4	0	0	0	1	11	-7
Nick Richards (CHA)	129-108 W vs. DAL	0	0-0 (0-0)	1	0	0	1	1	4	-9
Hamidou Diallo (DET)	113-109 L @ CLE	DNP – Finger	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Rajón Rondo (CLE)	113-109 W vs. DET	DNP – Ankle	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–