Wolves 121, 76ers 111: Edwards Makes Preseason Debut for Wolves in Des Moines

Anthony Edwards made his preseason debut for the Wolves, scoring 16 points including 11 straight in the first half.

The Minnesota Timberwolves continued their preseason campaign against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

Interestingly, it is not the first time Timberwolves coach Chris Finch and 76ers coach, and native-Iowan, Nick Nurse have coached against each other in this building. The two faced off in the 2011 D-League championship where Finch was the coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Nurse was the coach of the Iowa Energy, which has since been renamed the Iowa Wolves.

Finch spoke pregame about that matchup over a decade ago, “Got my a** beat. But yeah, it was fun. I think we were here for games two and three of that series and it two sellout crowds and it a lot of fun.”

Joel Embiid did not travel with the team due to a scheduled assessment of his knee. Paul George did play, making his preseason debut for Philadelphia.

Julius Randle did not make his Wolves preseason debut, but Finch said he is likely to play on the road trip but did not say whether or not that would be Sunday against the New York Knicks. Rudy Gobert was a game-time decision and was also ruled out.

Anthony Edwards made his preseason debut, starting alongside Mike Conley, Donte DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid. Edwards played almost the entire first quarter, mirroring his likely rotation for the regular season.

DiVincenzo was again a stand-out, making two 3-pointers while adding three assists and five rebounds to his first-quarter stats.

In the second quarter, the Wolves dug into their bench, playing a total of ten players. Rob Dillingham got his first minutes of the game, dishing out two assists during his nearly 7 first-half minutes including this beautiful pass to Edwards.

Ant got rolling to close out the first half, scoring 11 straight points for the Wolves giving him a total of 13 at the half. McDaniels knocked down a buzzer-beating jumper to close out the half, giving Minnesota a 70-53 lead.

Reid led the Timberwolves in scoring with 14 points including two makes from deep. George scored the most in the first half for Philadelphia, totaling 18 points at the break.

The starters, sans Conley, would play the first few minutes of the second half before being subbed out for the bench players and younger guys. Philadelphia would slowly chip away at the Wolves lead throughout the second half, but the Wolves bench would hold on for the 121-111 victory.

Naz Reid led the Wolves in scoring with 19 points on 7-12 shooting, adding four rebounds and four assists. Edwards put up 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. McDaniels had 17 points and six rebounds.

George and Tyrese Maxey led the way for the 76ers with 23 and 21 points respectively.

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Key Takeaways

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Edwards picks up where he left off last year

After not playing in the Timberwolves preseason opener, Edwards made his preseason debut for the Wolves. After starting the game off slow, likely getting used to NBA basketball again, Edwards exploded down the stretch of the first half, scoring 11 straight points for the Wolves.

Ant would finish the night with 16 points on 7-14 shooting including 5-6 on two-point shots. Edwards also added four rebounds, three assists, and a steal to his line.

With Karl-Anthony Towns no longer on the team, the Timberwolves franchise is undoubtedly on the 23-year-old’s shoulders now, if they already weren’t before. Ant showed over his 23 minutes of play that he is ready to take on that role and carry the Wolves as high as they want to go.

Dillingham Shows off playmaking ability

After leading the team in shot attempts in their first preseason game, Dillingham showed his playmaking chops in this one, dishing out a few pretty assists, while also making the simple play leading to open shots.

Finch talked pregame about what they are looking for from Dillingham, whether that is shot-making, playmaking, or just allowing him to be himself.

[Against the Lakers] I thought he did a good job with kicking out, making simple plays and finding people. I thought most of his shots in the last game, came in the flow and were pretty good shots and are some of the shots that he’s really know comfortable with. Yeah, we’re just not putting too much pressure on him and just let him kind of ease himself into the role.

Rob did struggle with his shot, missing six of his eight shots from the field. Finch talked postgame about the up and down nature of being a rookie in the NBA and what the key is for Dillingham to find consistency.

I thought there were times he kind of had lanes open to the hoop and he didn’t go and then when there weren’t lanes there he was trying to go. Just kind of reading that situation a little bit more. Maybe a little bit more early attacks kind of pace. get to the heart of the defense in broken floors. I think that’s the things that he can probably do a little better.

In two preseason games, Dillingham has shown both the ability to create offense, knock down shots from every area on the floor, and make plays for teammates within the flow of the offense at different parts of each game. Moving forward, he will look to put all of that together over the course of one game.

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DiVincenzo fitting in seamlessly

Just two weeks after joining the Timberwolves, DiVincenzo has already found himself a perfect fit for this Timberwolves roster. In his first game with Timberwolves this preseason, he made all five of his shots from the field, including four makes from long-range. Tonight, he showed how much of an offensive facilitator he can be in the flow of the Minnesota offense.

While his six points and four assists might not stand out on stat sheet, DiVincenzo has shown why he was so coveted by the Timberwolves front office in the trade that saw the swap of Towns for Randle by jumping right into the Wolves lineup without skipping a beat.

In the locker room postgame, Reid talked about what it’s playing with another floor spacer that can shoot the ball from well beyond the arc while also continuosly moving in the flow of the offense.

It’s crazy. It’s good to see too as well. So definitely helped space the floor. He hits shots, obviously, like you said, from deep. So I think he cuts, he gets open for the next guy. So I think it’s huge.

Donte also spoke in the locker room about finding ball movement within the offense, but also play slower when needed.

I think it’s just contagious. When one person does it, it trickles down and everybody’s into it. And what people start to realize is there’s more open shots, and we want to play faster. Because I think with this team, we’re able to play two different ways. We can play that way, and also we have guys where we can slow it down.

While most players would need a longer integration period when moving to a new team, DiVincenzo has immediately found his role in the Timberwolves offense of bombing 3-pointers and keeping the offense going with ball movement.

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Up Next

The Timberwolves continue their preseason roadtrip as they head to the big apple to face a familiar faces of KAT, Tom Thibodeau, and the Knicks this Sunday, October 13. The game will start at 5:00 PM CT and fans can catch the game airing nationally on ESPN.

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Game highlights