Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant scored 31 points against the Timberwolves on 11-for-17 shooting Sunday in Game 1 of their NBA first-round playoff series.

The primary defender on Durant for most of that game was Karl-Anthony Towns.

“KD is just an unbelievable player, such a tough cover, we just wanted to put as much size on him as we possibly could,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said after Sunday’s game. “He had it going there. So many of those signature KD shots, and you just have to live with them at times, but I thought KAT really did a great job battling them, making it as hard as possible.”

And that’s really all Minnesota is asking Towns to do. It’s no secret the Wolves’ 7-footer is often the team’s worst defensive player in the game. He is special on offense, and average on the other end. But in Game 1 of this best-of-7 series against Phoenix — much like in last year’s first round against Denver — it’s Towns who has been called on to guard the other team’s best player. And he’s asked to do so without much help of any kind.

And in the end, what matters most is the Timberwolves won Game 1 by a score of 120-95.

The reasoning is sound — The Timberwolves will live with Durant or Nikola Jokic scoring 30 points a game if it means the ancillary offensive pieces are kept at bay.

In three regular-season games — all losses — the Timberwolves struggled to match up with the Suns. Towns was often chasing sharpshooting guard Grayson Allen around the court. So Phoenix was able to generate open looks for Allen at ease, and the Timberwolves spent much of their time on defense in some sort of scramble mode.

With Towns on Durant, Durant gets a lot of decent looks at shots he can knock down, but they often come out of isolation attacks that feature a lot of dribbling and, for his teammates, watching. It breeds stagnancy. Plus, all of Minnesota’s top-tier defenders are available to guard Phoenix’s other premier scorers.

Suddenly, the Suns’ potent offense becomes far simpler to contain in half-court sets. It’s a setup with which the Timberwolves have now had success against Denver and Phoenix. But the entire plan centers on Towns’ ability — and willingness — to compete in disadvantaged situations. He is set up to fail in the name of helping the Timberwolves succeed.

The casual onlooker will watch Towns give up 30 points and likely think he’s not doing his job on defense, when the opposite is actually true. No one likes to get scored on time and time again, but Towns exposes himself to criticism because it gives the Timberwolves their best chance to win.

“It’s fun when you get to compete against the best of the best. Last year, with Jokic, it was really fun to be able to guard, possibly, the three-time MVP, and a guy that I have tremendous respect for. This year, it’s the same thing,” Towns said. “I’ll take whatever challenge is needed for us to win, and if I’ve got to guard the best player and do what it takes to score, as well, I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ve never backed down from a challenge and I’ll continue to do that every single night for the rest of my career.”

This defensive matchup is just the latest example of Towns sacrificing to make the Timberwolves’ lineup work.

“Part of the secret of our success is KAT’s willingness to sacrifice on both ends of the floor and still find ways to make major impacts,” Finch said. “Finished second in scoring (Saturday), really efficient. Got to the free-throw line. Played physical (but) with intelligence. Thought it was outstanding. Gonna need more of it.”

Towns is putting himself out there defensively on the national stage. And, frankly, he did relatively well on Saturday.

It would be one thing if Durant was waltzing past Towns and driving for easy layups. But the Timberwolves big man is at least forcing Durant to settle for contested mid-range shots. And even if Durant knocks those down at a high clip, it’s by no means an easy form of offense.

“You know that they’re going to hit some really difficult shots, and we’re just going to have to live with those. My job is to make it as difficult as possible for them to even make one of those shots with great defense, then you’ve got to respect the offensive greatness that they possess,” Towns said. “It’s those kinds of guys you know you’re probably not going to be able to stop, you’ve just got to contain them as best as possible and make it difficult for them that night.”

“Looking back at a lot of those shots KD hit, they were superhuman,” Finch said. “You just have to compete your best, and KAT has done that all year.”

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City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.

AdI Talwar

People entering Brooklyn Housing Court located on the morning of March 20, 2023.

Welcome to City Limits’ NYC Housing Calendar, a weekly feature where we round up the latest housing and land use-related events and hearings, as well as upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.

Know of an event we should include in next Monday’s calendar? Email us.

Upcoming Housing and Land Use-Related Events:

Tuesday, April 23 at 6 p.m.: The NYC Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development will hold an online webinar for tenants and building owners on what to expect in housing court. Registration required. More here.

Thursday, April 25 at 9:30 a.m.: The NYC Rent Guidelines Board will hold a public meeting to hear testimony from invited property owner groups (9:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.) and tenant groups (1 p.m.–3:30 p.m.). More here.

Thursday, April 25 at 10 a.m.: The NYC Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings will host an oversight hearing on building stability, as well as several pieces of legislation related to inspecting parking garage structures and the rights of tenants who’ve been displaced by fire or other emergency conditions. More here.

Friday, April 26 at 10 a.m.: NYCHA’s Board will hold its monthly meeting. More here.

Friday, April 26 at 11 a.m.: The NYC Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development will hold an online webinar for building owners about “indoor allergen laws” and combating issues like rodents and mold. Registration required. More here.

Monday, April 29 at 12 p.m.: The NYC Commission on Human Rights will offer this online class for tenants, landlords, and realtors on housing discrimination and tenant harassment. More here.

Monday, April 29 at 1 p.m.: The NYC Planning Commission will hold a review session; the agenda is not yet available. More here.

NYC Affordable Housing Lotteries Ending Soon: The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) are closing lotteries on the following subsidized buildings over the next week.

The Vitagraph (waiting list), Brooklyn, for households earning between $68,366 – $198,250

1140 Grant Ave Apartments, Bronx, for households earning between $113,726 – $227,630

1010 Bedford Avenue & 263 Skillman Street, Brooklyn, for households earning between $119,486 – $227,630

28-57 45th Street, Queens, for households earning between $100,320 – $198,250

The post NYC Housing Calendar, April 23-29 appeared first on City Limits.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. >> A Masters green jacket wasn’t enough for Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler was running on emotional fumes fresh off his four-shot victory at Augusta National, but full of purpose that more than made up for his lack of preparation for the RBC Heritage. The result not only was similar, it has come to be expected.

He rarely missed a shot. He gave little hope to those chasing him. And he walked away from Harbour Town on Monday morning with another victory that extended a dominance not seen since the peak years of Tiger Woods.

“I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose,” Scheffler said after polishing off a 3-under 68 for a three-shot victory.

Victory was inevitable — Scheffler had a five-shot lead with three holes to play when the final round, delayed 2 1/2 hours because of storms Sunday afternoon, was suspended by darkness. It’s starting to feel that way whenever he plays.

Scheffler now has won four of his last five starts, the exception a runner-up finish in the Houston Open when he misread a 5-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.

He considered this one of the tougher wins because it followed the Masters.

“Coming off the high last week to going into here, not really with a ton of energy, not really with a ton of prep work,” Scheffler said. “I think it’s underrated how difficult it is to do the stuff that Tiger was doing, and win like every single week. It takes a lot out of you emotionally and physically, especially major championships.”

Turns out he had plenty left in the tank.

Scheffler now has 40 consecutive rounds at par or better, a streak that began at East Lake in the Tour Championship last August. His position at No. 1 in the world is so great that he became the first player since Woods to crack the 15-point average mark.

“It’s very impressive,” Patrick Cantlay said. “He’s played great for a while now — a number of years — and it seems like he is playing the best golf of his life right now.”

The only competition Monday morning was for second place.

The storms brought cold weather and a strong wind. Scheffler missed the 18th green to the right, chipped safely to 18 feet and two-putted for bogey. That ended his streak of 68 consecutive holes with no worse than a par.

“I hit driver, 3-wood into there,” Scheffler said. “So I’m going to count that as a par for myself.”

Sahith Theegala birdied the 16th hole, saved par from a bunker on the par-3 17th and closed with a par for a 68 to finish alone in second, a difference of $666,667 than if he had finished in a three-way tie for second.

“Even though I finished second, I felt like I was never really in it to win there. Scottie was just so far ahead,” Theegala said.

Cantlay (68) and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who finished his 65 on Sunday before the storms, tied for third.

Scheffler finished at 19-under 265 and earned $3.2 million. That brings his season total to nearly $18.7 million in just 10 tournaments.

The good news for the rest of the PGA Tour: Scheffler won’t show up again until the PGA Championship the third week in May. He headed back home to Dallas, where his wife his expecting their first child sometime next week.

Scheffler was staked to a one-shot lead starting the final round and chipped in for eagle on the second hole. Before long, he had a four-shot lead and never showed any signs of coming back.

“I got off to a good start yesterday and kind of just kept it going from there,” he said.

The week wasn’t the smoothest start for Scheffler, who was six shots behind after an opening round that included a shank from the bunker on the third hole for a double bogey. He didn’t drop another shot the rest of the week until it no longer mattered.

About the only thing that went wrong for Scheffler was the celebration. His caddie, Ted Scott, went for an elevated chest pump and Scheffler just laughed at him without moving.

About 400 spectators waiting along the 18th fairway were allowed to fill a corner of the grandstands as Scheffler approached. He turned and waved his cap toward them after tapping in his final stroke of another masterpiece.

Such is Scheffler’s dominance that his last seven victories have come against fields that had at least eight of the top 10 players in the world.

The last player to run off a stretch like this — four wins and a runner-up — was Woods at the end of 2007. Woods then won his first three PGA Tour starts (and one on the European Tour) to start 2008.

Scheffler now has 10 titles on the PGA Tour in a span of 51 tournaments dating to his first victory in the 2022 Phoenix Open.

“It does not get boring,” Scheffler said. “I think hitting a really well-struck golf shot close to the pin is like an addicting feeling.”