West Notes: Wolves, Karl-Anthony Towns, Pelicans, Suns

Timberwolves

From the sounds of things, the Timberwolves aren’t about to give up on the pairing of center/forward Karl-Anthony Towns and center Rudy Gobert.

“They’re both really incredibly good basketball players,” coach Chris Finch said, via Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “With the skill level that KAT has, for sure, there’s no reason basketball-wise that it shouldn’t work. There’s a lot of things we can talk about about why the learning curve was so steep for it. But the most important thing is we have a big enough body of work, I think we can properly evaluate it. I still remain extremely confident we’re able to maximize those guys.”

Towns suffered a calf injury early in the season and missed 52 games, limiting his time to get accustomed playing next to Gobert. As Finch noted, they twin towers will get an opportunity to spend time working out together this summer.

Pelicans

• Shooting guard CJ McCollum underwent surgery on his right thumb, the Pelicans announced in a press release. 
• McCollum will not need surgery on the torn labrum in his right shoulder, the team added. He will rehab the shoulder in the offseason to stabilize and strengthen it.

Suns

Center Deandre Ayton proved to make a difference in the Suns’ 4-1 series win over the Clippers, coach Monty Williams said.

“He’s finding ways to impact winning,” Williams said, via Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “In Game 2, his midrange shot kept us in the game and allowed us to gain some momentum and footing. (In Game 3), he wasn’t making the shots he typically makes, but he still found a way to impact the game. The rebound at the end was huge.”

For the series, Ayton averaged 16.0 points, 11.2 rebounds and shot 53 percent from the floor.

• Star forward Kevin Durant implied he has no issue playing heavy minutes in the postseason. Quite the opposite. “I want to be out there every minute,” he said, via Rankin. “I wish I could play 48 every game.”