Wolves 112, Raptors 101: Wolves Win Home Opener Despite Brutal Fourth Quarter

Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle led the way with 24 points each as the Wolves win their first home game of the season

For the first time in 195 days, the Minnesota Timberwolves were back in Target Center for a regular season home game. After splitting the first two games of the season out in California, the Wolves looked to get above .500 for the first time this season against the Toronto Raptors.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch spoke pregame about his feelings regarding the contract extension for Rudy Gobert, which was completed on Tuesday.

Very excited, really excited obviously. He kind of changed our team personality with a defensive first mindset. He reestablished himself last year as a defensive player of the year. And it’s been a big part of everything that we’ve tried to do. And he’s a joy to coach, and he’s a winner, and he’s a good vet to have around young players. And he leads by example on and off the floor. And he’s a great model for guys who want to learn to eat better, take care of their body better, all these little things that he just shows them daily by example.

Finch also talked about playing in front of a full Target Center crowd for the first time this season.

A lot of excitement, for sure. [Fans] get a chance to see us at home. There’s been so much feedback when you’re walking around the city, which has been fun. But now we gotta go put it into play.

The Wolves would get off to a solid start with Mike Conley hitting a pair of 3-pointers and Anthony Edwards finding Gobert with a lob, putting the Wolves up 10-3 early.

The Minnesota starters continued building their lead throughout the first quarter, getting it as high as 12 points before each team’s bench started to get rotated into the game.

The high 3-point volume, which has been a preseason focus for the Wolves, was a weapon throughout the first as Minnesota would go 7-13 in the first quarter from beyond the arc including this bomb from Donte DiVincenzo.

One notable change in the way the league has been officiated so far this NBA season is the lack of foul calls on drives to the rim. This change is likely to benefit a Wolves team that plays physical defense and has dramatically increased their 3-point volume early.

The makes from deep would just keep coming for Minnesota as Nickeil Alexander-Walker would make the Wolves eighth 3-pointer early in the second quarter to put the Wolves up by 18.

Toronto would go on a 7-0 run to cut the Wolves lead down to 11 before a pair of step-back jumpers from Edwards pushed the lead back to 14. The two teams would trade 56-44 lead into the halftime break.

Edwards led the way for Minnesota with 14 points on 5-11 shooting including three 3-pointers. DiVincenzo was the other Wolf in double-figures with 11. Gradey Dick had 12 points for Toronto with Scottie Barnes only scoring six points in the first half.

Jaden McDaniels would come out of the halftime locker room aggressive, scoring seven straight points for the Timberwolves, extending their lead to 15 before a Raptors timeout.

Ant would get in on the fun, making a layup in transition and lightly taunting a couple of Toronto defenders.

Minnesota would build their as high as 22 points in the third quarter before a small Toronto run cut the lead to 17 heading into the final quarter.

The Raptors would continue to keep themselves in the game, slowly cutting the Wolves lead to 12 about halfway through the fourth quarter. After some back-and-forth play, the Raptors would hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut the Wolves lead to just eight with two minutes left.

Despite some horrendous offense from Minnesota down the stretch of the game, the lead they built earlier in the game would prove to be enough as the Timberwolves won their home opener 112-101 over the Raptors.

Edwards and Randle led the way for the Wolves with 24 points each. Dick was the leading scorer for the Raptors with 25 points.

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Key Takeaways

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Fourth Quarter Struggles

After building the lead up to as many as 22 points in the third quarter, the Wolves offense sputtered in the fourth quarter missing ten of their first 13 shots in the frame before Edwards made a 3-pointer and a dunk to seal the game.

DiVincenzo talked in the locker room after the game about the fourth-quarter offense and their ability to put the game away.

Second half I think we kinda bullshitted around a little bit. If you wanna be a great team you can’t do that and that’s kinda what we want to do. So I think everybody knows that what feels good, what is the right play, what is great offense for us. So just being able to do that for 48 minutes is key.

The Wolves played great down the stretch in Sacramento, and were never in real danger of losing this game, but will need to clean up their late-game offense in games they lead, otherwise, they leave open the possibility of blowing a game when the other team isn’t as beat up as the Raptors were tonight.

Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Julius Randle Punishing Smaller Defenders

All game long, Randle made it a concerted effort to post up whenever he got a smaller defender guarding him. He often got a great position near the basket and used his bully-ball play style to get a good look in close.

Finch talked in his availability after the game about whether or not that is a focus for Randle this season.

Sure. I mean, he’s got the freedom to do that. It’s something we’ve actually been encouraging him to do a little bit more, particularly early. When he runs the floor, sits down, and gets a smaller guy on him.

In these last two games, Randle has done a great job sealing off smaller defenders in transition to get in a good position in the post. It has been especially notable in these games where the opposing defense doesn’t have a great matchup for him defensively.

With Karl-Anthony Towns now on the New York Knicks, the Wolves lost a lot of their post-scoring ability, but Randle has done a good job replacing that part of the Timberwolves offense through three games.

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Rudy Gobert Catching Lobs from Different Teammates

Gobert had four lob-dunks in this game with the assists coming from four different Timberwolves players. Finding Gobert around the rim has been an issue for Minnesota’s offense throughout Gobert’s tenure, but they did a solid job of finding him tonight.

After the game, Gobert talked about teammates finding him for dunks and his mindset in those situations.

I’m a naive guy, regardless of who has the ball, I’m thinking that they’re going to throw it. I try to prepare myself regardless of who it is. But yeah, I think it’s contagious. I think it’s a pass that sometimes is actually easier than throwing a bounce pass. or the regular pass. So I think the more guys are able to see that it works, the more it happens naturally.

The contagious nature of the lob pass showed tonight as after Edwards found Gobert early in the first quarter, the entire Wolves offense seemed to be on the lookout to find Rudy near the rim for easy shots.

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Game Highlights

The Timberwolves take on the Dallas Mavericks back at Target Center in a rematch of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday, 10/29. The game begins at 6:30 PM CT airing nationally on TNT.

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Game Highlights