2 young rising stars gore Bulls, set stage for solid Wolves 2023-24 season

For whatever reason, the Minnesota Timberwolves were a luggage-toting road team throughout the preseason.  An NBA team that played five preseason games, but were only cheered on by the home crowd at Target Center once.   Of course, great NBA teams rise above the when and the where to focus on playing basketball.

And that is exactly what the Minnesota Timberwolves did in their fifth and final preseason game of 2023.

The Chicago Bulls are an NBA team that is trying to determine the direction for the 2023-24 NBA season, much like the ambiguity that surrounds the Minnesota Timberwolves this season. But unlike the injury-riddled Timberwolves roster last season, the Bulls were relatively healthy last season. And unlike the Timberwolves, the Bulls fell short of competing in the postseason.

Pat Bev can’t run with the Bulls

Not even the late arrival of former Timberwolves point guard Patrick Beverley could lift the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs.

The Bulls finished with a 40-42 record last season, and multiple NBA pundits, analysts, and websites project them to finish on or about the 2023-24 NBA season with a 41-41 record.

While that is similar to where the team ended up last season, the Bulls have not shown much fight so far in the 2023 NBA preseason. After an early double-overtime victory over the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets, the Bulls fell to a 1-3 record before the Minnesota Timberwolves (4-0) rolled into town. And they were eager to end their preseason on an uptick.  Unfortunately, the Timberwolves had other ideas, and that is what we want to discuss:

Ant-Man heroics deliver again

The game appeared to be another hotly contested one, with the first quarter showing a feisty Bulls team that had every intention of winning this one. And they fought hard for a preseason game, which seems to have been the overarching theme for the Timberwolves all preseason.

But if there is one player in the NBA who loves the competition and never quits, it’s the 22-year-old Timberwolves All-Star shooting guard, Anthony Edwards. After opening the game with three missed shots, the concern was that this simply was not going to be Ant-Man’s night. But that was misleading.

After falling behind by four points with less than six minutes remaining in the first quarter, Anthony Edwards sprang to life. He would hit his next four shots, including a three-pointer, plus a free throw (8 points), which would push the Timberwolves back in front. He would add one more score to close out the quarter, pushing his scoring up to 10 points, but he wasn’t done yet.

After the Bulls rallied behind forward DeMar DeRozan to reclaim the lead at 39-38, Edwards went back to work. He drove to the basket with a fury to retake the lead, and then followed that up moments later with a slam dunk that appeared to be right out of a video game:

My goodness.

He even nailed another perimeter shot to ensure that the Timberwolves would hold the lead at halftime.

By the game’s end, Anthony Edwards’s stat line appeared every bit to be in mid-season form:

20 minutes | 19 points | 61.5 FG% | 50.0 3PT% | 5 rebounds | 1 assist | (+/-) +4

But he was not the only young gun who came to play hard in this one. Let’s pivot to another young rising star on the Timberwolves roster:

Never enough Naz Reid

When it comes to the Minnesota Timberwolves bench, there are plenty of players who appear to be ready to contribute this season. But none seem to have the ability to seamlessly enter the game and just take over like Timberwolves sixth-man Naz Reid.

Naz Reid led a dominating Timberwolves bench in scoring, which is completely newsworthy all by itself. But that was only scratching the surface of what he brought to this game. Even if you have been a fan of Naz Reid up to this point of his career, this is a brand new chapter of his NBA career.

Reid is more than an offensive spark coming into the game off the bench. He is the full monty, a player who not only jumpstarts the offense but a player who can deliver across the board and help uplift the team while key contributors recharge.

You have to love the way Naz Reid rolls in a game.

More power to the PF role

The Minnesota Timberwolves believe that Naz Reid can be a superb 4 this season, and I think that they are correct. He has a sneaky good perimeter shot, he has the ability to move quickly, and he has a complete arsenal of shots. Best of all, he has the mindset that allows him to plug and play wherever Cach Finch needs him to contribute.

So what did Naz Reid’s stat line look like by the game’s end?

21 minutes | 14 points | 66.7 FG% | 33.3 3PT% | 8 rebounds | 3 assists | 2 steals | (+/-) +10

And so, the Timberwolves enter the 2023-24 NBA season on a very high note.

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