Takeaways from Timberwolves 121-111 preseason win over 76ers

The Minnesota Timberwolves played their first “home” game of the preseason, hosting the Philadelphia 76ers in Des Moines at the home of the G League Iowa Wolves on Friday night.

Julius Randle still didn’t make his Timberwolves debut and Rudy Gobert also sat out but Anthony Edwards got his first run of the preseason in Minnesota’s 121-111 win.

Here are a few quick takeaways from the Timberwolves’ win on Friday night.

Follow All Timberwolves on Facebook

Brilliant ball movement

It’s always important to remember on these nights that it’s just the preseason and things will be different when meaningful games start — the inclusion of Randle and Gobert, alone, will greatly change the equation. However, the ball movement by the Timberwolves’ offense on Friday was beautiful.

The ball was zipping around the court, Donte DiVincenzo was incredible at times and the offense put up a cool 70 points in just the first half.

Again, we’ll see how things look with Gobert and Randle in the lineup and a little less shooting. However, if Minnesota continues to prioritize ball movement, this offense could be a lot of fun and make a big leap from last year’s 17th-ranked offense.

Head coach Chris Finch even noted postgame that the ball movement was good last preseason too but the ball "got sticky" when the regular-season started, so we'll see if the Timberwolves can avoid that same path this year.

Ant shakes off rust

Anthony Edwards has had a busy offseason, winning gold at the Paris Olympics, attending the premiere of Netflix’s “Starting 5” documentary in which he stars, and now preparing to be the clear-cut No. 1 on the team without Karl-Anthony Towns around.

He looked like he was shaking off a little rust early Friday night but still finished with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists on 7-of-14 shooting, albeit just 2-of-8 from three.

He, DiVincenzo, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels played most of the first 3.5 quarters, each logging 24 minutes, before giving way to the bench.

The Wolves may not use that lineup, which also included Mike Conley, a lot during the regular season but it was pretty fun. The combination of shooting, multiple ball-handlers and playmakers, defensive ability and speed was great in the first half and could be an option Finch could deploy in rare occasions this season if a more small-ball style is necessary or Gobert is sidelined.

Ultimately, again, it’s just preseason, but it was a fun little experiment.

Minott and Garza good, other young guys struggle

Once again, Josh Minott and Luka Garza were great. Minott, in particular, got a little run in the first half and looked fantastic, helping the Wolves outscore Philly by 12 points in his five minutes.

Minott finished with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while shooting 4-of-7 from the field, 1-of-2 from downtown and 3-for-3 at the free throw line.

Garza, playing back in Iowa, where he starred in college and has also dominated in the G League, led all bench players with 14 points while adding 3 rebounds in 17 minutes.

Outside of those two, most of the other young guys had some struggles.

Rob Dillingham had another rough shooting night, going just 2-of-8 from the floor and 1-of-5 from three but he did have a game-high 9 assists plus 4 rebounds and 3 steals, helping him to a +10 rating; Terrence Shannon Jr. was 0-2 from the field and failed to grab a rebound or notch an assist in his 16 minutes of action; Daishen Nix was also 0-of-2 from the field and had just 2 rebounds; and Leonard Miller, like Nix, got just eight minutes of action and was 2-of-4 from the field but did add 5 rebounds and a block.

Next up, the Timberwolves face the New York Knicks at 5 p.m. on Sunday. We’ll see if Randle, DiVincenzo and Towns face their former team, but that one will be broadcast on ESPN.