Five takeaways from the Wolves' season-opening loss to the Lakers

The Timberwolves began their new era on Tuesday night, and as expected, the new-look lineup had some issues in a season-opening 110-103 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

There were offensive errors early on and defensive issues throughout, and although they began to resolve some of their early problems in the second half, the Timberwolves ultimately fell short in the season opener.

All in all, Tuesday night was just one game. The Wolves certainly have a lot of work to do and they have given reason to believe they will get there. Here are five things that stood out from the opener:

During the preseason, it looked like the Timberwolves were making significant progress offensively. The Wolves were middle-of-the-pack in offensive rating last season and ranked 15th in the 30-team league, but the smooth offense of the previous season suggested that Minnesota might boast a top-10 offensive unit this season.

That could probably still be the case, but six turnovers in the first quarter killed any early offensive rhythm Tuesday night. Regardless of the lineup, the Wolves were disjointed most of the night and never really found their offensive flow.

“Really disjointed, like all the flow, rhythm and good will that we built on offense in preseason, we just didn't have it,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters after the game. “And then when we did manage to get some open looks, for the most part they didn’t go in there, but we didn’t generate enough good ones to find a rhythm.”

Finch said he felt the ball movement became sticky, which led to a lot of early turnovers. He attributed the many early ball losses to “trying to do everything one-for-five.” Julius Randle said the Wolves were stagnant early on, which was obvious. It wasn't the free-flowing offense Finch wanted to see, as a lack of ball movement stalled their rhythm.

They also missed their shots. The Wolves shot just 41% from the field and 32% from 3-point range. They didn't score many easy points — just seven fast-break points — and missed a number of wide-open threes throughout the night.

“We got a great look,” Anthony Edwards said. “If we make those shots, we win, so that’s easy for me. Basketball is that simple. We make the free throws that we missed. If I make the free throws that I missed, we win the game. It’s that simple.”

It was a struggle on Tuesday, but it was the first game and the problems are all fixable.

Ultimately, the Timberwolves won the battle along the boards, outscoring the Lakers 47-46 on Tuesday night.

But they were crushed on the glass early on, which was a common problem early on.

The Lakers had 15 offensive rebounds, many of them in the first half, and that allowed Los Angeles to score early second-chance points. The Lakers were more motivated on the ball, especially early in the game, and their lack of rebounding and turnovers left the Wolves digging themselves into a hole that was largely of their own making.

“I feel like if we had just handled the rebound (Tuesday) we could have won the game,” Randle said. “I take this personally. I'm proud that I can hit the ball back. So it’s the little things we need to sort out and everything else will fall into place.”

In addition to the problems on the defensive line, the Wolves were outmuscled and lackluster in the lane for most of the evening. The Lakers outscored the Wolves in the paint 72-40. These mistakes were most noticeable during a 17-2 run by the Lakers in the second quarter in which they took control of the game. That started when Rudy Gobert got up from the floor and Los Angeles scored inside at will, taking advantage of a zone defense that the Wolves were briefly running in the frame.

“I think there was a lot going on in the schedule (Tuesday), maybe too much at times,” Finch said. “We may need to simplify some things here early on. But I didn’t see as much resistance as we normally do – even when we had opportunities to contain, we didn’t do that well at the start.”

Finch also lamented the lack of early offensive rebounds. Randle admits he was beaten by backdoor cuts a few times during the game and said he needs to get better. From top to bottom, the Wolves didn't play with the same style of defense that observers had become accustomed to in recent seasons, and there were plenty of uncharacteristic mistakes.

Randle played in his first regular-season NBA game in quite some time after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery near the end of last season. As expected, there was noticeable rust on the two-time All-NBA selection.

There were defensive mistakes, early ball losses and some attacking problems. In the end, the numbers weren't so bad as Randle finished the game with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two turnovers, but there were obvious problems too.

“I really had no expectations other than to win,” Randle said. “I didn't think it would be nice or perfect or whatever, like I said, it's the first game. “I just came in expecting to win, but we didn't get the job done and we had to do a lot cleaned up and had a lot of potential and room to grow.”

Randle said he feels great physically and pointed to the factors of the long layoff, the new team and the new environment, specifically saying that none of these factors are an excuse. His focus is on continuing to improve and eliminate errors.

After looking like he couldn't miss a shot in the preseason, DiVincenzo struggled with his shot on Tuesday night and couldn't find a rhythm early on. He picked up pace in the second half and showcased the playing skills he had demonstrated throughout pre-season. Ultimately, he finished the game with 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting, three assists and two steals.

One of the interesting storylines leading up to the season was what Finch would do with the rotation on one of the league's deepest teams. While the top eight was being determined, there were several players in the preseason who were pushing for a possible ninth spot in the rotation, which went to Joe Ingles in Tuesday night's season opener.

The veteran played just seven minutes and finished with a plus-minus of plus-one. He attempted just one shot – a missed 3-pointer – and recorded one assist. As expected, he ran a few pick-and-rolls during his minutes with Gobert, who Ingles was teammates with at Utah. It was only the first game and it still wouldn't be surprising if Josh Minott got a run as well, but for now it looks like Finch will turn to Ingles when he frees up the ninth spot in the rotation.