2017 All-Star

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NBA All-Star Break is a jam-packed weekend for the players involved.

The Wolves were represented by center Karl-Anthony Towns in the Rising Stars Challenge.

A look at his schedule going into the break:

Tuesday: Play in Minnesota against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fly to Denver after.

Wednesday: Play in Denver against the Nuggets.

Thursday morning: Fly to New Orleans for All-Star Weekend.

After arriving in New Orleans, Towns took part in his media circuit on Thursday before other media appearances throughout the night. And then on Friday, he had Rising Stars practice in the morning to gear up for Friday night’s game.

But during the time in between, Towns and his fellow Rising Stars participants went out to volunteer in the community.

The group went to William Hart Elementary in New Orleans to help build a playground for the school along with a basketball court.

“We’re just so thrilled to be out here,” Todd Jacobson, NBA Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility, said. “ . . . It’ something this school has been looking forward to for a long time. They needed a safe place for the kids to play . . . It’s transformative. It started out as just a grass field and now they’ll have an entire playground and new basketball courts.”

There were more than 14,000 volunteers that day around the city and Towns, during some downtime, was glad he was just able to participate.

“This means the world,” Towns said. “Our schedules and what they are. The little time that we get to do these things, we cherish it. This is awesome.”

It will be a playground and basketball court that will be available to the school, along with a place the community can go to feel safe.

“The school, these kids are extremely excited because they have not had a playground or any equipment for many, many years,” Angela Harris, a fourth-grade teacher at William Hart, said. “The neighborhood is excited because it’s so beautiful looking at the changes that are being made.”

There were plenty of things to be excited for on the court over All-Star Weekend. But we should be equally, if not more, excited about what happened off it. 

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Towns Gives Back During All-Star Break

All-Star Weekend is complete. And what a weekend it was. Sorry for the lack of updates over the last 30 hours. I lost my computer charger (it was under my bed).

Before we sign off for this edition of “Ratke On The Road,” I’ll give a few highlights from All-Star Saturday Night and the All-Star Game on Sunday.

Throughout the next week, we’ll have features from All-Star Weekend, including a longer piece on what All-Stars had to say about LaVine and his rehab. Some very good stuff from Kemba Walker, James Harden and Paul George.

Here we are in New Orleans about 14 hours after we wrapped up the Rising Stars. Wolves center Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, but unfortunately USA lost to World.

We have plenty of content, including a story, photo gallery and postgame interview.

I’ve had chocolate covered almonds for breakfast/lunch, so we are off to a great start already. I feel like I’ve gained four pounds already.

Today, I’ve already posted a Mailbag, and we’ll have plenty of content coming on the site.

What’s on the agenda for the day, you ask imaginary reader?

I’m going to walk around the city a bit. Mardi Gras is in full effect here and apparently there have been three parades this morning, so YOLO.

Hello friends. Don’t worry. I’m still here. Sorry for the lack of posts today. It’s been an eventful day and I took an accidental nap at 3:30 p.m.

I’m here at the Celebrity All-Star Game. Lynx point guard Lindsay Whalen is playing in it. Whalen is also one of the coolest humans, for what it’s worth. Master P is also here, so that's dope. 

We are set to attend practice availability for the Rising Stars Challenge with Towns. And then we hit media availabilty with All-Star Saturday night participants, All-Stars and Lindsay Whalen's media circuit. And that's BEFORE tonight's Celebrity Game and Rising Stars Challenge. Busy day, my friends. 

I saw T-Pain last night. Not sure if he saw me. Will update you after the day.

We just wrapped up today’s Media Circuit with KAT and my goodness, that was a pretty fun thing to be part of. Well, not actually part of. But just to be there in the background where literally nobody probably saw me.

We are in Houston on our layover. It’s not 10:30 a.m. yet and I’m very close to ordering cheddar fries. It seems like that would be a mistake, but I’ve done worse.

Former Wolves player and former Gopher great John Thomas is on our flight. He’s one of the nicest guys around.

I don’t really have much for updates right now. We are still on for KAT’s media tour at 3 p.m.

If I eat these cheddar fries, wish me luck for the rest of the day. Godspeed. 

Also, this restaurant stopped serving breakfast at 10 a.m. Seems odd. Will investigate. 

8:45 a.m., Somewhere in the air on our way to Houston

Greetings from Minneapolis. It’s early and I’ve already heard a group of men singing to the Dixie Chicks over a beer at the Minneapolis airport. Things are getting wild.

I woke up at 4 a.m. and I never wish that upon anyone.

We have departed Minneapolis and are scheduled to have a layover in Houston, also known as The Windy City. From there, we fly out to New Orleans, also known as The City of Brotherly Love.

As far as our agenda goes for the day, besides travel, we have the media tour for Karl-Anthony Towns set for 3 p.m.

Update: There is something called a Stroopwafel that is being served on my flight and my goodness gracious, it’s delicious!

We land in Houston shortly and I’ll be on the lookout for more Stroopwafels on my journey.

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Ratke On The Road | 2017 All-Star Edition

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All-Star Throwback | LaVine Makes Slam Dunk Contest Cool Again

Same format. Four questions. This time, related around All-Star Weekend in New Orleans. Let’s roll.

Marco is active on Twitter and I feel like he could have done better than this question. He might also be the world's biggest Zach LaVine fan.

I mean, you could have just looked it up online or something. It’s 54 degrees right now and I believe the high is 73 today. It rained last night and that stunk. 

Come with harder questions next time, Marco.

Let’s roll with a traditional lineup of PG, SG, SF, PF and C. And these players can only be players I’ve watched (and actually remember watching). For example, the only Michael Jordan I really remember watching was in Washington and while he was better than 99.8 percent of basketball players on this earth, he would not be considered for the “Kyle Ratke All-Star Game” that is played at ROCORI High School annually.

Did you even read my column last week, bro?

He wasn’t all that much fun to watch later in his career, but Kobe’s gonna Kobe. If only Nash and Kobe had the chance to play with each other in real life. Oh, wait. . . Let’s move along.

The greatest basketball during my core basketball years. Did you know this is James’ 14th season in the NBA? My goodness I feel old.

Minnesota fans would disown me if I didn’t slot KG here. Has anyone ever played with as much intensity as Garnett? Probably not. Will anyone ever? Good luck.

You think Shaq is great on TV? Okay, agree to disagree. But I’ll never forget how happy I would get when getting a Shaq basketball card. During my prime collecting days (2000-2004, I was 10-14 years old during this time), O’Neal was an absolute monster. Could he do anything away from the rim or from the free-throw line? No, but he didn’t need to.

Also, I wish someone would have told me basketball cards made in the late ‘90s and early 2000s have absolutely no value. My student loans might be in a better place right now had I been a more frugal child.

Will KAT go for MVP in the Rising Stars Game?

We are about 12 hours late for this question. Would Karl-Anthony Towns loved to get the victory last night? Sure. Would he appreciate the MVP trophy? Maybe, yeah. But for Towns, the moment was more about having fun with his peers and representing his organization in a positive way.

“The game is amazingly fun,” Towns said after the game. “You get a chance to be in front of the fans and have a chance to do a little more athletic moves and more All-Star game moves.  It was a lot of fun.  I had a blast.  For me being my last Rising Star, I'm glad that I was able to enjoy this moment.”

For Towns, the next step is playing on All-Star Sunday in Los Angeles next year.

Is media hospitality your favorite or your favorite?

This is from a former colleague of mine with the Wolves. He’s now doing some great stuff for the Kings on web and social. ‘Baz and I spent some time together the last two years over All-Star Weekend and apparently, it’s well known that I’m a fan of the media hospitality room that serves free appetizers and free drinks. If anyone knows the two things I love most in life, it’s free appetizers and free drinks.

Unfortunately, I’m not staying in the media hotel this season because it was full. Instead I’m drinking cold coffee and eating Chex Mix in an undisclosed location. I’M NOT BITTER AT ALL!

We still have two more days in New Orleans and we’ll have plenty of coverage yet to come. Stay tuned.

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Mailbag | All-Star Edition

Center Karl-Anthony Towns continued the tradition of Wolves’ players having a solid night at the Rising Stars Competition during All-Star Weekend.

Wolves wing Andrew Wiggins won the MVP two years ago, while Zach LaVine won it last season. Towns finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals while shooting 11-for-14 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.

Unfortunately, Towns’ USA squad fell 150-141 to the World team on Friday night in New Orleans.

Nuggets sharpshooter Jamal Murray was named MVP of the game, finishing with 36 points and 11 assists while shooting 9-for-14 from the 3-point line.

Towns said after the game that it was a little different this year not having LaVine and Wiggins by his side like last year in Toronto.

“It was different, obviously, not having Zach and Andrew,” Towns said after the game. “They're like my brothers, missing them.  I just went out there and tried to put on as best as possible for the Timberwolves and the organization.  Hopefully, I think I represented them well.”

With nine minutes left in the first half, Towns’ former teammate at Kentucky, Devin Booker, hit Towns with a half-court alley-oop. That’s that Kentucky chemistry.

Towns and the Wolves are back in action on Friday, Feb. 24 at home against Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Fox Sports North and WCCO 830-AM.

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Towns Scores 24 In Rising Stars Challenge

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Gallery | Towns In 2017 Rising Stars Challenge

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Gallery | Towns At 2017 Rising Stars Practice

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Flashback Friday | LaVine Wins Rising Stars MVP

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2017 All‑Star