Minnesota Timberwolves: Takeaways from Wolves win over Maccabi Haifa

The Minnesota Timberwolves dominated Maccabi Haifa on Sunday evening in what was their first win of the preseason. Let’s talk takeaways.

The Minnesota Timberwolves dropped their first two preseason games on the road at Phoenix and Golden State and returned to Target Center for their lone home tune-up tilt.

It was a walk in the park, as the Wolves outscored Maccabi Haifi by a 34-14 margin in the second quarter to pull away and win easily.

The Wolves starters only played in the first quarter and were all phased out by the start of the second frame, with the Wolves leading 33-25 at the time. Jarrett Culver‘s 24 minutes were a team high, and outside of Jaylen Nowell‘s 22 minutes nobody on the team played more than 17.

For the first time this preseason, two-way player Jordan McLaughlin saw the court, as did training camp invitees Jordan Murphy and Lindell Wigginton. Several players had a chance to run the point, including combo guard Tyrone Wallace, who is still fighting for a roster spot, McLaughlin, and 16 minutes from Shabazz Napier.

There wasn’t much to take serious note of in terms of how the team played on either end of the court given the blowout nature of the game, but let’s take a look at some individual performances and a continuing trend surrounding the team.

1. The 3-point barrage continues, and it was more accurate

Clearly, the Timberwolves will be shooting many more 3-pointers this year. That takeaway isn’t necessarily a surprise, but instead, it’s the gradual improvement that they’ve made over their three preseason games.

In Phoenix, the Wolves shot a horrendous 8-for-39 (20.5 percent). Against the Warriors, the Wolves were just 14-for-49 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc. But on Sunday evening against Maccabi Haifa, the Wolves knocked down 14 of their 36 long-range shots, a 38.9 percent clip.

Robert Covington, Andrew Wiggins, Treveon Graham, and Jake Layman each had two made threes, and nobody else had more than one.

2. Jarrett Culver’s aggressiveness

Culver’s numbers weren’t as eye-popping as they were in his first couple of preseason appearances, but he was absolutely aggressive and impressive on offense.

Culver routinely was able to get downhill and head to the rim. There were multiple nice finishes in the paint as part of a 5-of-9 shooting night with four assists and three rebounds. His only four misses were from beyond the arc.

3. The wing rotation

Again, there isn’t anything to truly glean from the wing rotation in terms of minutes allotment, as head coach Ryan Saunders distributed minutes extremely evenly across the board. But some of the groupings were certainly notable.

Graham started his second consecutive game after Layman started the preseason opener in Phoenix. He’s probably the most well-rounded player that will be jockeying for playing time alongside Culver, Covington, and Wiggins.

Layman had a strong stretch off the bench, including a nice block on defense that turned into a big dunk in transition off a long pass from Napier. Nowell, this year’s second-round pick and probably the fifth or sixth-man deep in the wing rotation, saw heavy playing time and showed a nice scoring touch.

Next up, the Wolves will head to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers on Tuesday night before wrapping up the preseason on Thursday in Milwaukee.