Timberwolves' Towns Named Player of the Week

Minneapolis/St. Paul – The NBA today named Minnesota Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns as its NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of April 4-10. After earning Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors five consecutive months, this is the first such award for Towns. He is the eighth Wolves player to win Player of the Week honors: Mo Williams, Kevin Love (2 times), Nikola Pekovic, Al Jefferson (2), Sam Cassell, Kevin Garnett (15), Stephon Marbury. Towns is the first rookie in the NBA to be named Player of the Week since Michael Carter-Williams in 2013-14. For the week, Towns averaged 21.3 points (T-10th in Western Conference), 10.3 rebounds (T-7th in the Western Conference) and 1.7 blocks per game as Minnesota’s swept its three-game West Coast road trip, the team’s most successful road trip since a 4-0 swing in December 2005. Towns opened the week with a 20-point, 12-rebound performance against the Golden State Warriors, including scoring five points in the final 2:00 of overtime as the Wolves made up a 17-point third-quarter deficit. He added two blocks, pushing his season total to 132 and breaking Kevin Garnett’s franchise rookie record. Two days later, Towns tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds against Sacramento, his 50th double-double of the season and 14th consecutive, the longest streak in the NBA this season. He finished the week with 27 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter on 7-of-8 shooting, and nine rebounds Apr. 9 at Portland. Towns punctuated the night by hitting the game-winning hook shot with 1.8 seconds remaining to cap Minnesota’s comeback from a 10-point deficit. The first overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, Towns ranks eighth in the NBA in rebounding (10.5 rpg), eighth in field goal percentage (54.1%), ninth in blocked shots (1.69 bpg), 27th in scoring (18.3 ppg) and third in double-doubles (50). Already the franchise rookie record holder in rebounds (838) and blocks (135), Towns (1463 points) enters tonight’s game against Houston needing just 10 points to surpass Christian Laettner (1472) for the franchise rookie scoring record.