No exaggeration, Jahlil Okafor made Karl-Anthony Towns his bitch tonight. Just straight up abused him, repeatedly. I’ve been told that KAT is learning how to play defense this season; that claim has now been revealed to be a dirty, devious lie, a blatant fabrication to get him into the All-Star game. It worked, but you’d have to think that the NBA will reconsider after Okafor slapped him around in the post so badly. Final points total for Okafor tonight: 21. For KAT: 16. The defense rests, your honor.
We know Okafor can do stuff like this. There was never any question as to him getting the ball in the post and getting buckets. It’s more of a question like “does that one talent make up for his near-total lack of other desirable basketball skills?”. As Al Jefferson found out, the answer is no, and it will always be no until the NBA bans people from shooting jumpers.
There are signs of hope. First sign of hope: he scored 21 tonight, and Thibodeau was pissed about it. Second sign of hope: supposedly he is starting to at least think about defense now. That’s the first step to being a good defender. Thinking about wanting to play defense.