Minnesota Timberwolves at Chicago Bulls
Date: October 16th, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM CDT
Location: United Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio<\/p>\n
The Wolves Beat the Guangzhou Loong-Lions (Because, Of Course They Did)<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the obvious: the Minnesota Timberwolves just beat the Guangzhou Loong-Lions by 60 points in a game that meant less than your third fantasy football trade offer of the week.<\/p>\n
Calling this a \u201cpreseason contest\u201d would be generous. It was more like a glorified scrimmage; the NBA equivalent of punching a heavy bag that doesn\u2019t punch back. The Loong-Lions are a proud Chinese Basketball Association team, but on Wednesday night, they looked like the Washington Generals in slow motion.<\/p>\n
Chris Finch could\u2019ve rolled out the Wolves\u2019 G League affiliate, a few random Target Center ushers, and probably still won by 30. None of the regular starters even played. No Ant. No Julius Randle. No McDaniels. No Conley or Gobert.<\/p>\n
Still, the Wolves\u2019 young guys did what they were supposed to do: handle business.<\/p>\n
The Rob Dillingham Game (Sort Of)<\/p>\n
The night belonged to rookie guard Rob Dillingham, who dropped 27 points and 9 assists on 10-of-14 shooting. For a night that meant nothing, he sure made it look like it meant something. He was fast, confident, and in total control. He demonstrated the kind of swagger you want from a guy who has been billed as the heir apparent to Mike Conley.<\/p>\n
Of course, context matters. It\u2019s one thing to cook a CBA team that looked allergic to pick-and-roll defense. It\u2019s another to do that next week against an NBA defense with pulse and purpose.<\/p>\n
Still, after an up-and-down preseason, it was nice to see Dillingham\u2019s spark return, especially after Bones Hyland posted the rare \u201cdid he even play?\u201d box score line. The backup point guard debate in Minnesota continues. Dillingham\u2019s upside versus Bones\u2019 explosiveness could quietly define the Wolves\u2019 second unit this season.<\/p>\n
Now comes the real test, or at least the closest thing to it before the real test. The Wolves head to Chicago to face the Bulls in what could be their final tune-up before the regular season. Expect Finch to roll out the starters for a half, get them in rhythm, and then stash them in bubble wrap before the flight to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The Bulls, meanwhile, exist. That\u2019s their brand now. They\u2019re a team that\u2019s always somewhere between \u201cfrisky\u201d and \u201cirrelevant,\u201d like that one friend who insists their crypto is about to bounce back any day now. Still, Chicago plays physical basketball, and after a couple of sloppy overtime losses earlier this preseason, it\u2019s exactly the kind of test the Wolves need.<\/p>\n
The Real Story: Focus and Chemistry<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not pretend this preseason has been flawless. The Wolves\u2019 starters have looked sluggish at times. That\u2019s fine when it\u2019s October. It\u2019s deadly when it\u2019s May and you\u2019re trying to close out OKC or Denver.<\/p>\n
Finch has talked all preseason about rhythm, energy, and execution \u2014 all those boring-but-important words coaches throw around when they know their team is more talented than focused. The Wolves have the roster to win the West, but do they have the discipline? That\u2019s the question that\u2019s going to hang over this season until they prove otherwise.<\/p>\n
Thursday night: Chicago. Then Philly. Then it counts.<\/p>\n
The preseason\u2019s nearly over. The hype and over-analysis is nearly over. The Wolves are healthy, motivated, and allegedly focused. Now they just have to prove that what we saw in April and May wasn\u2019t a fluke.<\/p>\n
Because the fun part starts Wednesday, and this franchise feels ready for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves at Chicago BullsDate: October 16th, 2025Time: 7:00 PM CDTLocation: United CenterTelevision Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[7,307,152,3954,6,308,1369],"class_list":{"0":"post-343129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","11":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-timberwolves","14":"tag-timberwolves-game-previews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115379452234157497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}