Seeing Malik Beasley do well in a Timberwolves uniform is really fun and awesome, and I’m so happy that he’s not getting held down by Paul Millsap in Denver anymore, but when I see “Beasley” in the boxscore, all I can think about is how sweet it was when Michael Beasley was scoring 20 a game for the Timberwolves, like, a decade ago.
Lion’s-mane Minnesota era Michael Beasley will forever be the best era of Michael Beasley. Remember when he scored 40 because he was forced to shoot a whole bunch of Michael Beasley-esque shots because three of his fellow starters were Wesley Johnson, Sebastian Telfair, and Darko Milicic (and Kevin Love as the fourth dude who actually scored fewer points than the rest of them)? Man, I’m getting all sentimental right now. What’s that guy even up to these days? I hope he’s doing okay.
Malik Beasley is kind of in that same situation that Michael Beasley was in in Minnesota: he has to shoot shots because who else is going to shoot those shots? D’Angelo Russell can only chuck so much. But you can tell that Beasley doesn’t mind at all; he’d been getting marginalized for the whole season with the Nuggets, and now that he can finally go out and shoot pressure-free shots without having to worry about “wins” or “losing playing time to Gary Harris for some reason”, he’s taking full advantage. 27 points isn’t even surprising anymore, not with the way he’s been scoring with the Timberwolves so far.