Let's point out at the beginning that every game of an 82-game season cannot be treated as a referendum on any single player or team.
To do so is exhausting and impractical just as much as it's inaccurate and unfair. It creates false narratives, or at least the chasing of narratives — whereby information that supports conclusions is more likely to be used and remembered that information that does not.
There's your backdrop for Monday's 114-109 Timberwolves overtime win over Boston, a masterpiece of grit that felt more like a playoff game in May than a regular-season game in early November.
Almost every important Wolves player had a huge role, none more so than Anthony Edwards. Ant dominated throughout, including a six-point scoring burst in overtime that provided the essential separation.
Jaden McDaniels was a defensive stalwart all night and rallied offensively. Rudy Gobert was a monster, continuing to look like the player the Wolves thought they were trading for a year ago. Mike Conley was steady and clutch. Kyle Anderson and Naz Reid continued to show why they are two of the best reserves in the entire league.
And then there was Karl-Anthony Towns, who by himself provided enough of a counterweight that he almost pulled the Wolves down to a loss instead of a win — as I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
How do we frame and reconcile all of that?
Towns was so bad — seven points, seven turnovers, at least seven instances of bad body language — that it felt like a relief when he recused himself from the game in overtime with his fifth and sixth fouls in quick succession. The Wolves soared from that point forward, with Edwards, McDaniels and Conley leading the way.
Do we use that as evidence that the Wolves can win even when one of their best players is having an off night? Sure.
Do we use it as evidence that Towns is still struggling to adapt in a two-big system with Gobert, that he's falling further down in the pecking order behind Edwards and that a trade is inevitable at some point?
That's trickier. That's where we have to distinguish between trends and mirages. Towns played much stronger games in the previous two wins, including their other victory over a previously undefeated team (Denver). His biggest consistent deficiency this season has been his shooting (23.5% from three-point range), and that feels like an extreme outlier that will change soon.
But some of Towns' issues are deeper. The woe-is-me attitude about fouls, which reared his head again as he fouled out Monday, is still a problem in what is now the ninth year of his career. The fit with Gobert might never be good. And his salary looms large.
None of those are one-game questions, even if the answers weren't good on Monday.
Here are four more things to know today:
*Sports Business Journal reported that Diamond Sports and the NBA reached agreement on a deal that will keep 15 NBA teams on Bally Sports channels for the rest of this season, but that those teams will be able to get out of their Bally deals at the end of this year even if their previous contracts had more than a year left on them. The NHL, per the report. is in the midst of negotiating a similar deal.
That's significant for the Wolves and Wild, who are both believed to have multiple years left on their deals with Bally Sports North. If the NBA and NHL deals with Diamond are approved in bankruptcy court, it will mean the Wolves and Wild can negotiate new TV deals after this season. Combined with the Twins' deal with Bally recently expiring, that would create an interesting next several months.
*There's a good chance Joshua Dobbs will start for the Vikings on Sunday. But the starting QB spot could be in flux the rest of the year, as Ben Goessling writes.
*The Brewers let manager Craig Counsell's contract expire and then had the temerity to act surprised when he took another job?
*Kent Youngblood from the Star Tribune will join me on Wednesday's podcast to preview the Gophers women's basketball season and Year 1 under Dawn Plitzuweit.
