Wolves 117, Kings 115: The Julius Randle Game

A thriller in Sacramento ended in a Wolves win and the Julius Randle breakout performance that signaled his arrival.

Welcome to Minnesota, Julius Randle.

In a game that may take time to be usurped as “best game of the year”, the Minnesota Timberwolves earned every part of their first win of the season on the road in Sacramento; a game that came down to the final seconds and an off-balance shot from Keegan Murray that ended up WAY too close to utter devastation.

Shortly beforehand with the game knotted up at 115 with 26 seconds left, Anthony Edwards soared to the basket on Domantas Sabonis and drew a foul that brought him to the free throw line. He would go on to hit the subsequent free throws that would go on to be the difference.

“It’s really big for him to be able to put pressure on the rim in those situations,” Head Coach Chris Finch said after the game.

While Edwards finished the game with 32 points and ended up being the hero at the end, it was the welcome party for Julius Randle that ends up stealing this storyline.

---

Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

The Randle Game

The Wolves trailed by as many as 12 points at one point in this game. For roughly 2.5 quarters, it looked like a pretty similar story to game one in Los Angeles.

Marginal defense, discombobulated offense, stretches where Anthony Edwards maybe took a few too many haphazard shots in a row, you know the drill.

However, even with all of the aforementioned being true, there was one constant from the opening tip that kept the Wolves casually hanging around enough to eventually strike in the second half.

“[Julius] set the tone,” Finch said. “He kept us in the game early almost all by himself. He was decisive…shot the ball well.”

Julius Randle was shot out of a cannon compared to a lackadaisical game one effort from the jump. He was incredibly decisive in post up situations, kept the ball out of precarious positions, and was incredibly willing to find open shooters in the corners when extra defensive help came his way.

He finished the game with four assists, but it could have easily been eight or nine.

It was the first sign of an offense that showed percolation. An encouraging lookback to an offensive flow that looked more like its preseason self, capable of going on runs and finding its way out of situations where the ball, at points got sticky.

Another interesting part of the offense that previously hasn’t been existent under Chris Finch is the decisiveness by Randle and willingness to playmake out of the high post. Karl-Anthony Towns attempted to do it, but his post ups and low post touches didn’t end up being very effective offensive possessions.

Randle’s openness, and frankly willingness to take smaller players to the basket quickly, and kick out once he draws a second defender in is a massive advantage for a team that wants to, and has taken more threes than it previously has (they attempted 50 on Thursday night).

“I didn’t think too many [threes] were forced,” Finch added. “We thought we could get a lot of them if we were making the right play.”

Translation? It doesn’t matter if they go up, as long as it makes sense within the flow of the offense, and the gravity Randle provided was a massive reason for the ultimate success of the offense, as well as his prolific scoring ability.

---

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Conley Struggles Continue

There’s nothing I hate more than watching Mike Conley struggle, but the first two games have been unfortunate case studies.

It may not be Saturday against a Toronto Raptors team that probably ends up not being any good, but the Wolves are going to need Conley to hit a few more shots in order to start and sustain runs that had been elusive to them heading into the second half Thursday. Conley’s continued struggles Thursday made the margin of error even thinner heading down the stretch against Sacramento.

There’s not a single person that dislikes him. I’m absolutely convinced of it. I also want to stay positive in the wake of a huge first win for the overall team.

But he’s started out the year 3-16 from the field, posted a -22 against the Los Angeles Lakers (lowest in the starting five), and a -6 against Sacramento. He’s struggled a little more around the basket as well in getting his typical floaters off of Rudy Gobert screens to fall.

I don’t have many doubts that progression back to his mean will eventually take place, but it’s been increasingly noticeable over the last couple games in setting the tone for the energy that goes into the ball in the flow of the offense.

Finch went back to Conley in crunch time on Thursday, and it paid off when he guided Edwards off of a quick double team and got him to the basket with a quick pass that would eventually put the Wolves on top with two seconds left.

Let’s hope it leads into more of that, and a couple additional corner threes moving forward.

---

Up Next

The Wolves will host Toronto on Saturday for their first game of the regular season at Target Center, with tipoff set for 7:00 CST.

The Raptors will be coming off of a back-to-back after hosting Denver on Friday night, and are coming off of a 30-point drubbing at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers in which Chris Boucher and Gradey Dick led them in scoring.

---

Highlights