On Wednesday, the Minnesota Timberwolves got a real shot in the arm thanks to the return of their star center Karl-Anthony Towns, who put up 22 points and 4 rebounds in a 125-124 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. It was Towns' first game back from a Grade 3 calf strain, which caused him to be out since late November.
Towns along with Anthony Edwards (24.7 points per game) is one of the top two players on this Timberwolves team, who are currently 7th in the Western Conference with a 37-37 record. At just 1.5 games back of the 39-36 Golden State Warriors for the 6th seed and eight games left in the regular season, the Timberwolves have to feel like there's a chance to leapfrog the Warriors. Especially if they can defeat them on the road on Sunday.
Given how important Towns is to the Timberwolves, one cannot understate the importance of his return. He's averaging 20.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game this season and really takes a lot of pressure off Edwards who does so much for them.
At this point, the biggest focus for the Timberwolves is to make sure Towns doesn't get overworked during this stretch while also making sure they can get Edwards back as soon as possible. Edwards has missed three straight games due to an ankle injury and it really is imperative that they get him back, too.
As far as what the final schedule looks like, after Sunday's game at Golden State, the Timberwolves will head to Sacramento and Phoenix before coming home to face the Lakers and Trailblazers. They will then hit the road to Brooklyn and San Antonio before coming home for one final game against the Pelicans. It's not a super easy schedule, but it's also not ridiculously hard, either.
While the future is not certain, one thing that is certain is that the Timberwolves' odds of avoiding the play-in tournament and getting a top six seed have gone up by getting Towns back. If you're them, that's really all you can ask for.
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