The Minnesota Timberwolves and Karl-Anthony Towns are riding a conference-best record as we approach the mid-way point of the season. The team has had some amazing moments on the court and played extremely well together. That being said, the most talked about moment of their season remains the altercation between Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert in November. Recently, Towns appeared as a guest on ‘Podcast P with Paul George’ and discussed the incident with the hosts.
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After the altercation between Green and Gobert, questions were raised about the Timberwolves star and his reaction during the incident. Some people went as far as to say that he didn’t have his teammates’ back. So, when Towns was asked about it on the podcast, he said, “I don’t know what people wanted me to do. It would have been three big old basketball players in a Double Nelson. It would have looked crazy, just double Nelson’s going on.” To be fair, KAT is right about the optics of the incident looking ridiculous if he decided to choke Draymond while the latter was choking Gobert.
The host decided to probe further into the incident but just couldn’t get the response he had likely been hoping for. The Timberwolves star mentioned that their team was focused on winning, and the rest did not matter. He explained, ” I wish I could tell you something good, but honestly we laughed about it. It wasn’t even anything serious. We were more talking about how we came out with a really big win there. Because after all of that, we stayed composed, we stayed mature, and we made some really big plays at the end to get the win. It would have been something if that had happened and it would have led to us losing.”
Karl-Anthony Towns and his team did the mature thing and focused on the game, before going on to win it. Since then, they have not looked back as they have been racking up one win after another. Even Paul George agreed with his guest and said, “I thought that you responded the way you should have. Regardless of people saying – ‘Oh, he could have punched or thrown it.’ At the end of the day, you were there to win a game.” George went on to make some valid points about KAT trying to de-escalate the situation instead of reacting in the moment and getting thrown out of the game. He stayed calm and helped his team come out with a win.
Draymond Green’s return from the suspension
Since the above incident with Rudy Gobert, Draymond managed to get into another altercation, this time with Phoenix Suns’ player – Jusuf Nurkic. This led to him being served with an indefinite suspension. The player has missed twelve games since the incident, which happened on December 12. The media and the fans were unsure when the suspension would end for the Warriors forward, but on January 6, the team announced that the player had been reinstated back in the league.
The suspension served as a time for Draymond to introspect on his actions and take professional help to get himself ready to play the game. The player recently released an episode of his podcast – ‘The Draymond Green Show‘, to talk about his journey during this three-and-a-half week-long suspension. Maturely, Green publicly apologized to the world for his behavior, before thanking those that had been there for him when he needed them most.
In a shocking revelation, the player revealed that he considered retirement during this phase. Overwhelmed by his actions and all the noise around it, he felt like he would not be able to continue playing any further. However, it was the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who talked him out of the idea as he felt the player was making a rash decision. With the Golden State Warriors struggling to stay afloat in the Western Conference, the team needs Draymond now more than ever.
Without the Green, the Warriors have been severely lacking on the defensive side of the floor, something that has been a major contributor to their low position of 12th in the West. Draymond’s return will be a strong remedy to this problem, which could prompt the Warriors to shoot up the standings. However, the player needs to keep his behavior in check from here on out. Otherwise, the consequences could be dire, both for him, as well as the San Francisco-based franchise.
