The Bulls defeated the Timberwolves 125-123 on Wednesday night in Chicago. It was just a preseason game, but it was the only time Minnesota's starters were on the floor together before next week's regular-season opening game against the Lakers. Let's go over some thoughts on the game…

Randle had five points, four assists and three rebounds in his first quarter with the Wolves, and Minnesota wasted no time in giving him plenty of run. He was on the court for 11:05 of the first quarter. He finished the first half with seven points, five assists and five rebounds in 18 minutes. Randle played most of the first eight minutes of the third quarter and left the game with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in 26 minutes.

Edwards made eight 3-pointers in the preseason game against Philly and then made 13 shots from 3-point land against the Knicks. He made 10 of 3 attempts in the first half against the Bulls and finished the game with 16 triples, although he only made three of them. Edwards has made it clear that he has worked tirelessly on his 3-point shooting since last season, and it is evident that he plans to shoot from deep frequently in the 2024-25 season.

Edwards ended up playing 30 minutes and scoring 16 points on 6 of 23 shooting.

The starters played the first six minutes before Donte DiVincenzo checked in for Mike Conley. Gobert checked out with about five minutes left in the quarter and was replaced by Nickeil Alexander-Walker. With just over three minutes left in the quarter, Josh Minott replaced Jaden McDaniels, although that would likely be Naz Reid's role if he were healthy. Randle played the first 11 minutes and Edwards played the entire first quarter.

In total, Minnesota used ten different lineup combinations in the first half and it was noticeable that they often played three-man lineups with combinations of Conley, Edwards, DiVincenzo and Alexander-Walker. That should be a tell-tale sign that three-man lineups will be the norm in the regular season.

Minnesota's starting five played the first 7-8 minutes of the third quarter before being eliminated for the remainder of the evening.

Minnesota's standout rookies didn't play in the first, second or third quarters. In fact, they didn't get into the game until the fourth quarter with just over five minutes remaining.

That should be a good indication that the rookies won't get much playing time, at least not early in the season, unless Minnesota finds itself on the side of a bust. Others you can include in this group of players who probably won't have much success depending on who played on Wednesday are Luka Garza and PJ Dozier.

Guys who certainly won't play much or at all are Jaylen Clark, Leonard Miller, Daishen Nix, Jesse Edwards, Keita Bates-Diop and Eugene Omoruyi. None of them took the field against the Bulls.