Minnesota Timberwolves pick up OT road win; 3 takeaways

1. Karl-Anthony Towns

After his slow start last season, many were left wondering exactly where former All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns had gone. He picked up the pace after the All-Star Break, but the new level that he was playing at still wasn’t enough to help the Minnesota Timberwolves find the playoffs.

This season, there were more questions surrounding Towns. Could he be able to truly lead a team? Would he be able to put up similar numbers to the All-Star posts that Minnesota has had in the past? Is he just riding things out until the end of his contract?

Luckily for Minnesota fans, Towns took this first game to put at least some of those concerns to rest. He recorded his 236th career double-double as he scored 36 points, collected 14 rebounds, and he showed his potential on the defensive side of the ball with three steals and three blocks.

Towns did struggle shooting inside the arc a little bit, going just 50 percent on 11-for-22 shooting and 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range and he still needs to become more efficient with the ball, as he had an assists:turnover ratio of 1.0.

Still, this performance did spare Timberwolves fans some massive worries, and at the very least, gave them a little hope for things to come.