Wolves' Karl-Anthony Towns Calls 'Unfortunate Bounces' vs. Mavericks 'Annoying'

Karl-Anthony Towns is frustrated.

"Every time I'm shooting, it feels good," he told reporters following the Minnesota Timberwolves' 116-107 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Sunday's Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

"I'm just having these very unfortunate bounces all the time. It's annoying. The last game, first shot of the game goes in-out, in-out, in-out. This game, my first shot is a free throw and it goes in-out."

Dallas now leads the series 3-0 even though all three contests came down to the final minutes.

That Towns has shot the ball so poorly during such close losses only makes the outcomes all the more difficult to accept for Minnesota, as it could be ahead 3-0 if he was even just shooting his averages.

He went 5-of-18 from the field and 0-of-8 from deep during Sunday's loss, which brought his field-goal percentage to 27.8 and his three-point percentage to 13.6 for the entire series. He has been benched at times during the fourth quarters and has been outplayed by Dallas' frontcourt for extended stretches.

It is a far cry from when Towns shot 51 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from deep during the seven-game victory over the reigning-champion Denver Nuggets in the second round.

The one silver lining for the Timberwolves is that all three games against the Mavericks were winnable even with Towns and Anthony Edwards struggling with their shot.

If they figure out a way to turn things around and play more to their standards, perhaps some of these outcomes will swing in Minnesota's direction and they can at least put pressure on Luka Dončić and Co.