Timberwolves finish undefeated preseason with injury questions

The big question is with Jaden McDaniels, though KAT missed the game with right knee soreness.
Timberwolves finish undefeated preseason with injury questions
Timberwolves finish undefeated preseason with injury questions /

Anthony Edwards scored 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting in just 20 minutes and the Minnesota Timberwolves took down the Chicago Bulls 114-105 in the final preseason game before next Wednesday's regular season opener against the Toronto Raptors. 

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© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota, a perfect 4-0 in the preseason, was shorthanded for the final exhibition contest, playing without three starters: Karl-Anthony Towns, Mike Conley and Jaden McDaniels. 

McDaniels has been out the past week and change because of a calf strain, Conley was dealing with an illness and Towns was held out to rest a sore right knee, which the team described as right patella tendinopathy. 

Towns' knee shouldn't keep him out for any regular season action. According to Jon Krawczynski, it "sounds right now like it's just a precautionary thing" and he now has six days to rest up before the Oct. 25 opener against the Raptors. 

McDaniels' status for the opener is less sure. 

"Wolves have said he will be evaluated next week in the run-up to the opener," Krawczynski tweeted. "I think that means that yes, the opener is in question for him. He has been working out, so we'll see."

Edwards dominated despite playing only in the first half. He had 19 points, hit 2 of 4 from 3-point land and hammered home a thunderous dunk when he drove the lane and finished. 

Edwards had just one assist but it was a beautiful lob to Rudy Gobert for a dunk. 

With three starters sitting out, Minnesota had Shake Milton, Kyle Anderson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker join Edwards and Gobert in the starting lineup. 

Milton had four points and four assists in 24 minutes; Anderson had five points, four rebounds and five assists in 20 minutes; and Alexander-Walker finished with six points and two steals but hit just 2 of 9 shots. 

Naz Reid, who figures to be Minnesota's first scoring option off the bench this season, had 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in 21 minutes. 

Troy Brown flashed as well, hitting 4 of 5 from 3-point range in 23 minutes. He could figure to play quality minutes in his first year after average 24.5 minutes off the bench with the Lakers last season. 


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.