Basketball is a strange sport. It’s a game of emotion and yet one defined by statistical clarity. It is loud and social, and yet there is no one more lonely than a man at the free-throw line. It hits so hard
because, as we watch these players, we feel something deeply emotional in a game that so many others see as an excuse to hide from family during the holidays. There is a collective here among us, one that feels something about the meaningless.
Enter the importance of a game with no consequence. Enter tonight’s matchup. Enter tonight’s matchup.
The Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks will be linked until the trade of Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and the pick that became Joan Beringer has left the desiccated husks of our memories. As such, it felt personal when, in the first quarter, Julius Randle drove directly at the power forward that took his place in the Sporcle quizzes about the Knicks’ starting lineup. In what seemed to be a sign of the night to come, Randle drew the foul and pushed his personal total up to eight points.
After building a decently sized nine-point lead halfway through the second quarter, it was pretty clear that the only players who could get anything going were Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, with an unexpected third member in Rob Dillingham.
Rob’s been the topic of many conversations, be it on Twitter or in pizza shops. The undersized guard has struggled to finish under the rim and was emphatically stuffed at the rim by Mitchell Robinson. Still, in what seemed to be the teaser for how the regular season rotation would go, Rob played six minutes and scored seven, leading to a 44-38 score at half.
In many ways, this season will come down to the swing factors of those three players. Can Anthony Edwards diversify his play style and find more ways to make a roster devoid of real playmaking talent? Can Julius Randle be the version of himself he was in the first two rounds of the playoffs, a hub of offense and a committed rebounder and defender? Can Rob Dillingham be more than a highlight tape and instead cement himself as the future of this team’s point guard position?
None of those questions will be answered tonight, nor will there be any real insight into how much shot creation Jaden McDaniels will be tasked with, nor what this team wants TJ Shannon to turn into.
Instead, tonight certainly answered the question of “how many mistakes can the Wolves get away with?” with a resounding answer of a handful less than they committed, and about as many as the Knicks managed to make tonight and still get the win
But it was preseason, and it gave us a rotation and some things to talk about. With that being said, and with a quick mention by Dane Moore, let’s get to it.
Game Summary
The Wolves’ lead grew bit by bit, row by row. While it never quite left the single-digit territory, it stayed afloat. While Julius Randle scored seven of the team’s first nine, Minnesota slowly found a rhythm. It was, however, a very messy rhythm, out of time and tempo, with misplaced notes that only the mother of a jazz drummer could love. Turnovers and ineffective transition defense kept a Knicks team shooting just over 10% from three in a game that could’ve rapidly become a blowout.
The second quarter was much of the same. From bad decisions to bad process, the Knicks stayed in this game by virtue of being the team making slightly fewer threes and many fewer mistakes. A halftime lead that could’ve been 20 was chiseled down to just six.
That led us to what is likely the worst sign of the night. It is completely clear to me that, had this been a regular-season game, the Wolves starters would’ve blown this game. Indeed, the end-of-the-bench guys did anyway, but they at least kept the game close, while the starters, players that should ostensibly be ready to perform at a high level when called upon, even in the lowest stakes, built a lead only to throw it away with laziness and somnambulistic close-outs.
The game did not go into overtime. It fell into it the same way someone with their eyes covered falls into quicksand. Instead of the joy of more basketball, we got the ontological evil that was a continuation of this game.
The Wolves fell apart in that every five minutes, showing that the deep reserves were not nearly as infallible as I thought they were. A pair of threes and a layup was answered weakly with a Rocco Zikarsky dunk. A Tyler Kolek mid-range jumper put this game out of its misery.
Basketball is fun, and tonight’s game was fun as we ease back into the NBA season, but if this is a sign of a season to come (it is probably not), it will be an up-and-down season just like last year’s, and I don’t know if I can handle that.
Post Game Presser
Head Coach Chris Finch was the first and only member of the Wolves I was able to speak to post-game. I was able to ask him only two questions before it became clear that no one else was going to show up to his availability.
With only two questions to ask, the focus was on the now of tonight and the later of the next few months. When asked about turnovers in the second half derailing the game, Finch said, “Yeah, we gave it to them. Three turnovers in four possessions to start the half, all of them silly, and led to transition opportunities. It’s kinda inexcusable for a team like us.”
With the rest of the back hallway of Madison Square Garden quiet and empty in its de facto conference room, I offered one more question. As mentioned above, Rob Dillingham is the make-or-break player of this season. Considering the player he was in Kentucky, so many different fans have grown to worry about just who the Wolves want Rob to be, and if he can, in fact, be that version of himself.
There seemed to be a lot of focus on getting the second-year guard as much time as possible on the court with as many different lineup opportunities. When asked about how the push for Rob to get further into the paint would enable him to grow into a more capable three-level scorer, Finch fired back, “We’re not trying to make him a three-level scorer at all. We’re trying to make him a playmaker, get into the paint, and make the right play. The scoring will come. He scored it easy in his first shift out there because he just played within the flow of the game. He got a three off the pass in the pick and roll, he got an opportunity to see the basket early on along the baseline, and he needs to create pace, get to the heart of the defense, and create shots for his teammates. From the back of that, everything else will come. We have enough scoring, and his scoring will fit in around our guys, but that’s not a focus right now.”
Up Next
The Timberwolves return home for their second and final preseason game at Target Center against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions, a team from the Chinese Basketball Association. The game tips off on Monday, Oct 13 at 7:00 PM CT. Fans can watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network.
