Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns: “We feel we can beat anybody”

The Minnesota Timberwolves, 42-30 and will finish over .500 for only the second time in 17 seasons. They are heading to the playoffs — fivethirtyeight.com gives them a 94% chance to make it — and tonight (Monday), the Wolves start a series of games that will determine if they have to go through the play-in to reach the playoffs, or can skip the extra game thanks to a top-six seed. Minnesota sits as the No. 7 seed currently but:

The Timberwolves control their destiny to getting the 5 seed.

– They are 1.5 games behind the Mavs — but play Dallas twice in the final 10 games (3/21 + 3/25)– They are .5 games behind the Nuggets — but play Denver once on 4/1

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) March 20, 2022

Minnesota is healthy and on a roll, having won 10-of-11 entering tonight, and over those 11 games Minnesota has a +17.2 net rating with the best offense and the best defense in the league. No wonder Karl-Anthony Towns is feeling confident, via Dane Moore of Blue Wire Pods.

Karl-Anthony Towns after tonight's win:

"Any time we step on the court, we should win… We feel we can beat anybody."

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) March 20, 2022

Fueling that confidence is the team’s defense. Minnesota is 11th in defensive rating, a solid number and far ahead of where they were expected to finish. Chris Finch was brought in as an offensive-minded coach, but Towns credits him for the team’s defensive play.

72 games into the season the Wolves are 10th in the NBA on defense

Karl-Anthony Towns: "I just think Finch is doing a great job of utilizing everyone’s strengths and what they’re really good at. And things that they’re probably not the best at, we do a great job of hiding them."

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) March 20, 2022

All of this has