Wolves Win Opener. Barely.

The Minnesota Timberwolves won their 2024-2025 opener. Barely, and unimpressively. OK, I get that an NBA win is an NBA win, and an NBA road win is an NBA road win. But, this win came barely and unimpressively against the 21-win Portland Trailblazers. The Wolves lost the 1^st quarter 35-33. They lost the 2^nd quarter 26-24. They lost the 3^rd quarter 34-31. They were down 95-88 after 3. Then they won the 4^th quarter 30-19 and the game 118-114.

The Wolves caught up at 108-107 at 3:36 on an Ant Edwards 3. They still trailed at 112-111 at 2:06 when Ant made another 3 and Rudy Gobert a dunk. An Ant 2 at 7 seconds iced it. Those were Ant’s 40^th and 41^st points. Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, Gobert and Terrence Shannon added 19, 18, 10 and 10 points.

The big news for the Wolves was their struggles at the point guard. Donte DeVincenzo started but had 6 turnovers and 2 assists, mostly in the 1^st half, and he barely played in the 2^nd. Mike Conley played 13 minutes with 3 points and no assists. Ant, of course, did a lot of ballhandling, but it was Shannon who came off the bench to play 25 minutes, scoring 10 points with 5 boards and 5 assists. Bones Hyland added 2 points and an assist in 8 minutes.

Rob Dillingham did not play. You may recall that the Wolves did everything possible to allow Dillingham to play his way into the rotation in the pre-season. He almost alone played in all 6 games. He led the team in minutes. He started 3 of the 6 games. But he did exactly the opposite. He played himself right out of the rotation, as the Wolves were outscored by 46 points when he was on the floor.

The Wolves journey continues tomorrow (Friday) night at the L.A. Lakers, where Ant will face off with the one NBA player who scored more than his 41 points in their respective openers—that, of course, being Luka Doncic who scored 43 in the Lakers’ loss to Golden State. Jimmy Butler led the Warriors with 31 points, but more to the point, Butler’s supporting cast, including of course Steph Curry, outscored Doncic’s supporting cast 88-66. The Lakers’ rotation included 94 minutes of Gabe Vincent, Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, Jaxson Hayes and Jared Vanderbilt for a combined 21 points, 12 rebounds and 2 assists. The Lakers’ rotation issues appear even more severe than Minnesota’s, specifically with LeBron James out, and so this is an eminently winnable (and losable) game. Go Wolves!

Elsewhere in the NBA

Well, in fact, everybody’s got issues. In the west (listed in order of their pre-season ranking):

1. Oklahoma City Thunder. The defending champions barely (that word again) got past the Houston Rockets on opening night 125-124 in 2OT as the Rockets 23-year-old post Alperen Sengun outscored Shea Gilgeous Alexander 39-34. The 2 teams made just 27% of their 91 3-pointers.
2. Denver Nuggets. All is well in Denver, where the Nuggets do not play until tonight (Thursday) at Golden State.
3. Houston Rockets. The Rockets have settled on erstwhile small forward Amen Thompson as their point guard, but they got 23 assists against the Thunder the other night while the Thunder got 29. Houston also turned it over 22 times to just 11 for OKC.
4. Los Angeles Lakers. Discussed above. James is not expected to play until mid-November. These guys might be in very, very deep stuff. Don’t know how I rated them #4.
5. Los Angeles Clippers. The Clips lost at the lowly Utah Jazz 129-108, falling behind 43-19 after one quarter. The “big 3” of Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal and James Harden combined for 30 points. Ivica Zubac was their best player. Their other best player, power forward John Collins, was the 14^th Clip to find his way on to the court.
6. Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies edged the New Orleans Pelicans at home 128-122 as 6 players joined Ja Morant in double figures. Memphis gave up 17 offensive rebounds to the Pelicans and turned it over 17 times.
7. San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs hammered the “new-look” Dallas Mavericks 125-92 and pundits got a chance to gush all over Victor Wembayana (40 points, 15 rebounds). And, how you gonna keep 2^nd year point guard Stephon Castle off the floor even if and when DeAaron Fox returns? His line was 22-7-6.
8. Golden State Warriors. Jimmy Butler hasn’t demanded a trade yet, so that’s good news. Nor has Draymond Green assaulted anybody. More good news.
9. Sacramento Kings. The Kings lost in Phoenix 120-116. The Kings are without star post Domantas Sabonis, out with a hammy, for a week or so, and so they gave up 18 offensive boards. And, even 59 points by DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine wasn’t enough.
10. Dallas Mavericks. As noted, the Mavs got torched as Cooper Flagg scored 10 points with 10 boards in his debut. Anthony Davis scored 22 points for Dallas. Dallas coach Jason Kidd actually gave the ball to D’Angelo Russell for a while in the 1^st quarter, and Dallas actually led 29-28. Russell finished up with 15 minutes, 6 points and 3 assists. Remember when Dallas traded away Luka Doncic, then got the #1 draft pick, and the talking heads immediately started talking up the Mavs as a contender? Those were the days, my friend.
11. Phoenix Suns. This is Devin Booker’s team, but shouldn’t he have some help? Still, they’ve got one win under their belt. That’s more than 16 NBA teams can say.
12. Portland Trailblazers. Honestly, they’ve got a decent 10-man rotation, but who’s the go-to? Shaedon Sharpe, I guess.
13. New Orleans Pelicans. They’re still Zion Williamson’s team. How’s that workin’ out for ya? 27 points, 9 rebounds last night, and another loss.
14. Utah Jazz. The Jazz got off on the correct foot, clobbering the big-budget Clippers. Still, they are a no-name, no-budget outfit, and their fate is all but sealed. Maybe back-up point guard Walter Clayton can summon up some excitement.

So I think that one can already say that I have terribly overrated the Lakers and the Clippers, and perhaps underrated the Spurs. And, who knows? Maybe the Timberwolves.

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