Timberwolves

Timberwolves Open China Preseason Tour with 111-97 Win Over Warriors

Basketball is huge in China. Shenzhen, a city of 12 million people, is not the first that comes to mind when thinking of basketball royalty – Yao Ming played for the Shanghai Sharks, for example – but Thursday’s game proves the interest is there.

The Shenzhen Universiade Center was sold out Thursday to see the Timberwolves take on the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Coming into Thursday’s game, the Wolves beat the Warriors 111-97, but each team had a different familiarity to this type of atmosphere.

This year marks the third straight trip for the Warriors. They returned with nearly their entire core, and have very little to learn about each other from a basketball standpoint. The preseason is nothing more than a light tuneup for them.

The Wolves have three new starters and have never been to China as a group. They’re using these games to get to know each other as they work towards their first playoff berth in over a decade. Playing a game with some level of jet lag — the game started at 1 a.m. Central — with this new of a core is not an easy task.

So it wasn’t surprising when the Warriors broke out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter, playing suffocating defense and hitting seemingly every 3-pointer they put up.

The Wolves were struggling to find lanes to the basket, and were getting contested well from three. The only positive constant from early in the game was Karl-Anthony Towns, who never let up on his aggression, and never looked uncomfortable against last year’s best defense in the NBA.

Also, this happened:

The Wolves eventually made a run early in the second quarter, closing the game to within single digits as the first half closed. But it wasn’t until the beginning of the third quarter before the Wolves got to playing their game.

Jeff Teague, who looked more jet lagged than anyone in the first half, finally started to look comfortable. He opened the third with two 3-pointers and started running an offense reminiscent of the way he did the first preseason game against the Lakers. Butler and Wiggins, who had started to show some life late in the second, kept it going in the third.

The fourth quarter was played entirely by the second unit. There is concern over how well this group will do, especially defensively, but they looked good head-to-head against one of the deepest benches in the league. In fairness, the third string guys eventually made their way out for Golden State, while Tom Thibodeau chose to continue with his core bench.

A few notes:

  • Taj Gibson shooting 3-pointers might really be a thing. He was 1-for-2 from deep Friday, and was even fouled from deep on another occasion.
  • Tyus Jones was the sole point guard to come off the bench for the Wolves. In the Wolves’ first game, it seemed as though he and Aaron Brooks were splitting backup time.
  • The Wolves won this game despite losing the field goal percentage battle for the majority of the game. When the core players played for each team, the Warriors shot over 50 percent, and the Wolves shot below 40. Once the regular season begins, those types of numbers will not fly against the teams like Golden State.
  • The Wolves will head to Shanghai to play Golden State once more to close the preseason. The game will be this Sunday and will begin at 6 a.m. Central.

Listen to Tim on Wolves Wired!

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