Malik Beasley eclipses record held by Karl-Anthony Towns
karl #karl
Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley has already passed teammate Karl-Anthony Towns for one three-point-shooting record. And he could be poised to rewrite several of the team’s records in that area.
Beasley hit his 100th three of the season vs. Indiana on Wednesday. It came in the team’s 29th game.
That’s the fastest any Wolves player had gotten to 100 in a season, just beating Towns, who hit his 100th in his 30th game.
That puts Beasley on a pace to set the team’s record for threes in a season.
Kevin Love hit 190 threes during the 2013-14 season. Beasley should be able to beat that, even in this COVID-19-shortened season.
But there’s more:
Beasley was 100-for-251 on three-pointers entering Fridays game. That ranked him fifth in the league in total three-pointers made. He’s leading the league in three-pointers made from the corner (35) and in three-pointers made from the left corner (21).
In the last game against Toronto Beasley made six three-pointers, his fifth game with six or more, the most by a Wolves player in a single season, passing Zach LaVine, who did it four times in the 2016-17 season.
Beasley didn’t start Wednesday’s game after being late for a team walk-through. Coming off the bench meant getting more time with the second unit, minutes coach Ryan Saunders liked a lot. Enough that he said he might look for ways to get that lineup on the floor more often.
“I’m looking at different situations,” Saunders said. “I did like those minutes, the way it matched up the other night. He will start [Friday], but you might see some of those same minutes with the second unit.”
Towns talks defenseTowns can sometimes give long answers in his media sessions, and when he was asked about his commitment to defense this season, Towns gave such an answer that talked about what’s different for him at that end of the floor. His answer revealed something about having continuity on the coaching staff.
“I feel like just because I’ve been fortunate enough to have the second year with the same coaching staff, same system,” Towns said. “Just being older. Just getting older. Seeing more and more offenses. Seeing more NBA offenses. Seeing a lot of these guys multiple times. You understand little things that you may have not understood before. Also, mentally I’ve been more engaged and more focused on that end. And I just know how young we are. It starts with me.”
Towns said he has implored the team to have better communication on that end, especially the guards, who can help Towns with what may be coming toward the hoop.
“Because with a young team comes a lot of miscommunication, and I gotta do my part to alleviate as much miscommunication as possible on the defensive end,” Towns said. “So there’s always a constant communication of the defensive side. What we see. What is the opponent doing? How are they changing up their offense to match our defense, to exploit our hole. How can we fix them? How can we cover each other on the defensive end. So, to answer your question long-winded, yeah, I’m more engaged defensively. That’s where I really care about the most.”
Etc.• The Wolves and Fox Sports North teamed up to host the eighth annual broadcast auction benefiting the Fastbreak Foundation.
Staff writer Chris Hine contributed to this report