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Karl-Anthony Towns fires back at Stephen A. Smith’s comments: ‘Now we’re being clasless? … Things came back to bite’

hoopshype
·6 min read
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However, Stephen A. Smith didn’t like the reaction at all and basically argued that Karl-Anthony Towns has no right to do such thing against a player like Russell Westbrook. The ESPN broadcaster highlighted that the Timberwolves have not done anything significant in the past two decades, adding that they made the playoffs just once in the past two decades (17 years to be exact). In response to Stephen A., Towns fired back and shared his confusion why Russ didn’t get any criticism for his “rock-a-baby” taunt even if it’s against better opponents. “Now when we have a little fun with the game, we’re being classless. Right, that’s what he said ‘classless’?” Towns said. “It’s cool, though, I understand. It was cool when people was doing this in people’s face (doing the rock-a-baby taunt). It was cool, right? Aight, things came back to bite.”
Source: Angelo Guinhawa @ Clutch Points

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Alex Kennedy @AlexKennedyNBA
Karl-Anthony Towns responds to Stephen A. Smith calling his taunting of Russell Westbrook “classless.” KAT is fed up 😂 pic.twitter.com/8s3MLmwNFg – 5:08 PM

Shandel Richardson @ShandelRich
Too much from Karl-Anthony Towns? si.com/nba/heat/miami… – 12:56 PM

StatMuse @statmuse
Just this past week:
50 — LeBron James
53 — Kevin Durant
60 — Karl-Anthony Towns
60 — Kyrie Irving
51 — Saddiq Bey
FIVE 50-piece in SEVEN days. pic.twitter.com/IYcFqHZ1ZE – 9:45 PM

Tommy Beer @TommyBeer
Add Saddiq Bey to the growing list…
Over the last two weeks in the NBA we’ve had:
Six 50-point games (LeBron James 2x, Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Bey)
And two 60-point games over the last two days (Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie) – 9:30 PM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Patrick Beverley on getting to know Karl-Anthony Towns this year: pic.twitter.com/T55vOJdYBW – 12:43 AM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Anthony Edwards on a conversation with Karl-Anthony Towns:
“I asked him, do you like success? He thought I was playing. I was asking him a real question. I was like go fast every time and you will score 40 points… When he goes fast, he’s unstoppable.” – 12:29 AM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Anthony Edwards on Karl-Anthony Towns’ swag:
“KAT last year didn’t say a word on the court, now he talking crazy to people. It’s because he got swag. He got swag. He kill the drip coming into the game, showing off the watch. Yeah, he’s swaggy. For sure. Love dat. Love KAT.” – 12:24 AM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Karl-Anthony Towns on wanting the ball in crunch time:
“In the playoffs, you’re gonna see a lot of different things. I will say, though, even Jordan gave it to Kerr for 3. There’s a lot of different ways you can win the game. But I for sure would like the ball in my hands.” – 11:37 PM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Karl-Anthony Towns after the game said that Patrick Beverley told him “that’s your fault” for letting the Lakers back in the game by getting in foul trouble.
KAT: “I got challenged by him. And you know what, I’m gonna respond to that. That goes back to the relationship we have.” – 11:30 PM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Karl-Anthony Towns on the final stretch of the season:
“This is some of the most important basketball in Timberwolves history right now, and we’re part of it. So we gotta do the most we can to solidify our position.” – 11:24 PM

Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Karl-Anthony Towns on Patrick Beverley:
“He’s our soul. I feel he’s kind of like our Draymond.” – 11:17 PM

Dave Early @DavidEarly
Kevin Durant says the talent and skill level is beyond what it’s been in the past. Points out what Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns are doing. And points to the defense Jason Kidd deployed tonite to slow him down as part of the evolution too. – 10:43 PM

Ohm Youngmisuk @NotoriousOHM
Karl-Anthony Towns waved bye to the Lakers upon checking out. He had 30 despite foul trouble. Lakers have lost 3 straight and 12 of last 15. Minnesota drops them 124-104. LeBron finished with 19, Russ with 15 and Melo with 16. LeBron and Melo shot a combined 2-for-15 from 3. – 10:33 PM

Justin Kubatko @jkubatko
Five different players have recorded a 50-point game this month:
✅ LeBron James (2x)
✅ Kyrie Irving (2x)
✅ Jayson Tatum
✅ Kevin Durant
✅ Karl-Anthony Towns
That ties the NBA record for most such players in a calendar month. pic.twitter.com/1rjz8ij5zq – 10:10 AM

More on this storyline

Joel Embiid on beef with Andre Drummond “I think most of the time, I talk trash or in the past when I used to really go out it with anybody whether it was (Hassan) Whiteside or Drum or whoever. To me, it’s never been serious to the point where, like, I don’t hate anybody. I’m like, I’m doing this for fun and people get their feelings hurt, that is on them. That has nothing to do with me. Anything that I say and anything that I dox I literally am not; I’m kidding. -via Sixers Wire / March 17, 2022

In one particular sequence that went viral, Russell Westbrook air-balled a corner 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 58 seconds left. After Towns rebounded the miss, he looked twice at the path where the air ball took flight with a perplexed look. “I honestly don’t pay no mind to it,” Westbrook said of the Wolves talking smack. “Maybe the other guys [do]. But they weren’t talking to me. They were talking to individual guys particularly, but the trash talking doesn’t bother me none. “Nobody over there has done anything in this league that would make me pick my eyes up, like, ‘Oh, they’re talking mess. Let me respond.’ No. It’s fine. They’re good. They won the game. Happy for them. Move onto the next one.” -via ESPN / March 17, 2022

Earlier in the game, after Patrick Beverley forced a Westbrook turnover, Beverley could be seen plugging his nose as if to say something smelled bad and appeared to mouth the word “trash” twice. Beverley, who has a history with Westbrook, took to Twitter afterward to respond to Westbrook’s remark that nobody on the Wolves has “done anything in this league.” “Playoffs every year,” Beverley wrote while retweeting Westbrook’s answer. “2 western conference finals with 2 different Teams individual stats or team stats? I thought it was a team sport??” -via ESPN / March 17, 2022