Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves rest starters, get blown out

Tom Thibodeau elected to rest six of the Timberwolves’ top rotation players in a rare preseason back-to-back, and the result was what one might have expected.

The Timberwolves’ bench rotation has been kept fairly short by new head coach Tom Thibodeau over the first few games of the preseason. But all of the underutilized second-unit and end-of-the-bench guys got their minutes on Sunday in Oklahoma City in a 112-94 loss to the Thunder.

Thibodeau (wisely) elected to rest his five starters (Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, and Karl-Anthony Towns) plus Shabazz Muhammad against the Thunder on Sunday. The home team played their starters, and Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams in particular had a field day.

Indeed, Westbrook took advantage of his match-up against rookie Kris Dunn, plus Tyus Jones and John Lucas III, scoring 26 points on 10-of-21 shooting in just 31 minutes, adding 10 assists along the way.

Adams added 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, plus 11 rebounds and four blocks in just 23 minutes — no Dieng and no Towns equals a heyday for opposing bigs, and there’s no surprise there.

The Wolves’ makeshift starting lineup of Dunn, Brandon Rush, Rasual Butler, Nemanja Bjelica, and Cole Aldrich was dominated by the Thunder’s actual starters. They played well against the OKC bench, however, and the Wolves managed to stay in the game at halftime.

But the third quarter was ugly, with Minnesota losing the frame by a margin of 31-20. And then, it was over.

Star of the Night

John Lucas III: 18 points (5-12 FG, 4-7 3P, 4-4 FT), 2 assists, one steal, 2 turnovers

We’ve already mentioned Westbrook and Adams, so we’ll give this one to Lucas III. And no offense to JLIII, but here’s hoping that this is the only time he’s the ‘Star of the Night’ all season.

He was good from start to finish, knocking down threes at an impressive clip and appearing to be the only veteran on the floor for the Timberwolves for much of the night.

Tweet of the Night

Not great. He wasn’t too good in this one, either, scoring 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting with 6 assists, 2 rebounds, and one turnover in 27 minutes.

The turnover came very early in this one, on another one of those semi-blind skip passes in the half court that was picked off. He did have one beautiful crossover and step-back jumper early in the third quarter, but it wasn’t an overly strong performance.

Of course, he didn’t have much in the way of talent around him, and he was facing the Thunder starters.

Notable Lines

• Adreian Payne: 16 points (7-12 FG, 1-4 3P, 1-2 FT), 3 rebounds, 2 steals, one block, 2 turnovers
• Nemanja Bjelica: 11 points (3-12 FG, 2-7 3P, 3-3 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, one block, 4 turnovers
• Cole Aldrich: 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, one steal, 3 turnovers
• Tyus Jones: 11 points (4-7 FG, 1-3 3P, 2-4 FT), 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers

Next: Timberwolves Notes: Wolves Features, Plus Jeff Van Gundy

Who’s Got Next?

The Timberwolves will finally return home to Minnesota and play their only two preseason games at Target Center to closeout the exhibition season. The Wolves host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday at 7 p.m. — the same team that Minnesota will visit exactly one week later to kick-off the regular season slate.