Wolves hope to get center Karl-Anthony Towns more involved

HOUSTON – In case you've forgotten these past 14 years, the NBA playoffs are all about adjusting from one game to the next.

After Game 1 of a first-round playoff series against Houston, the question is how much more the Timberwolves will feature All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns than they did Sunday, which wasn't much.

The same player who averaged 16.2 shots from the field and 23.7 points a game against the Rockets in the regular season took only nine shots and scored eight points in Sunday's 104-101 loss that was all about what could have been.

TNT analyst Charles Barkley called the Wolves "one of the dumbest teams I've ever seen in my life," in large part because they didn't exploit the Rockets' switching of screens that often left Towns with a smaller player on him.

Andrew Wiggins, Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Jamal Crawford all took more shots than Towns, who often went to the court's corners to space the floor and give veteran Jeff Teague and the Wolves' other guards room to get into the paint and attempt to exploit mismatches against Houston's bigger players.

"We all know KAT didn't get his touches like he wanted to," said Rockets superstar James Harden, who scored 44 points in Game 1. "So he's going to come out looking to be extra aggressive."

After practice Tuesday, Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau praised Teague and Towns for making the proper plays Sunday.

"We're on the road, we're an eighth seed and we have a chance to win," Thibodeau said. "Six minutes to go, we had the lead."

But Teague called exploiting his mismatch against the Rockets' Clint Capela and their other big men at the expense of getting the ball more to Towns "playing into their hands."

"They're trying to eliminate KAT," Teague said. "We have to figure out a way to get him the ball against those smaller guys. Get some deep seals and get him some easy baskets. When they switch, make quick decisions, tell him to bury the guy in the post."

Towns spoke repeatedly Tuesday about maintaining "discipline" and following "the game plan" on a night when he took one shot in Sunday's fourth quarter.

"Whether the game plan is to shoot 30 shots or five shots, I'm going to stick to it as much as possible," Towns said.

After analyzing game video, Thibodeau praised his team for defending the Rockets better than it did in the regular season and Towns for making good offensive decisions.

"He made a lot of good plays," Thibodeau said. "He understands what he has to do. He'll be fine."

Thibodeau also credited Teague's attacks when the Rockets switched defending screens for the 28 free throws his team shot, five more than the Rockets shot.

"He was in the paint, making easy plays," Thibodeau said. "He made the game easy."

Teague, though, said he and his team must vary their approach and get Towns more involved.

Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni expects the Wolves to do so.

"You don't really limit Towns," D'Antoni said. "Teague was scoring, going one-on-one and doing his thing. If you go to Towns, Teague's not going to score.

"They'll go to Towns. I'm sure he'll have a better game like we have a bunch of guys we hope will have a better game.

"We didn't do anything on Karl-Anthony. He's a great player. He'll score."

Butler declined to comment when asked about Barkley's criticism, but Towns replied.