{"id":683257,"date":"2026-03-28T01:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T01:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/683257\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T01:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T01:27:23","slug":"pistons-wolves-bid-to-keep-rolling-amid-stars-absences-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/683257\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons, Wolves bid to keep rolling amid stars&#8217; absences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony Edwards is getting closer to returning from his right knee injury, but he will remain sidelined Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the <a class=\"Annotation-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nba\/teams\/MIN\/minnesota-timberwolves\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> are doing just fine without him.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota (45-28) will go for its fifth win in the past six games when it tips off against the <a class=\"Annotation-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nba\/teams\/DET\/detroit-pistons\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Detroit Pistons<\/a> (53-20) on Saturday in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p>The Timberwolves are 4-1 since Edwards was ruled out because of inflammation in his right knee. The team said he would be re-evaluated within 1-2 weeks, and on Friday they provided an update by announcing that Edwards has been cleared to return to on-court activities.<\/p>\n<p>As Edwards ramps up, a couple of his teammates have taken a step back. The Timberwolves have ruled out Jaden McDaniels for Saturday&#8217;s game because of right knee soreness, and Ayo Dosunmu is questionable because of soreness in his right calf.<\/p>\n<p>Detroit is no stranger to injury absences, either. Top scorer Cade Cunningham, who last played March 17 against the Washington Wizards, remains out due to a collapsed lung.<\/p>\n<p>Like the Timberwolves, the Pistons also have played well despite the absence of their best player. Detroit is 4-1 since losing Cunningham, and its only loss was a 130-129 setback in overtime against the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n<p>Detroit will try to make it back-to-back wins when it takes on the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n<p>Jalen Duren has taken on an even more prominent role with Cunningham out. The first-time All-Star is averaging 19.5 points and 10.6 rebounds this season, and he matched a career high in his most recent game with seven assists.<\/p>\n<p>Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Duren&#8217;s passing ability made it especially hard on opposing defenses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s untapped potential,&#8221; Bickerstaff said. &#8220;Being able to use him as a hub and put the ball in his hands, let him make plays &#8212; the growth that he&#8217;s shown this year offensively has been through the charts. From reading coverages, reading rotations, being able to make the right read at full speed, he&#8217;s just having a phenomenal year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is the first of two games during the regular season between the Timberwolves and Pistons. They also will meet in Detroit next Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>As the postseason looms, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch likely will not try to rush Edwards back. The four-time All-Star could return sometime during a three-game road trip next week that includes contests against the Dallas Mavericks, Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n<p>When Edwards does return, Finch said, he will join a defense that has increased its intensity level in recent games.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our defense is being led by our on-ball physicality and compete and contain,&#8221; Finch said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what he does elite, so we definitely need him doing that at that level. Our off-ball (defense) has been sharper. We&#8217;ve worked on some situations where we want to switch a little bit more off-ball. I think that&#8217;s helped us. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And I think just being ready to take any matchup. Generally, he&#8217;s better against the high-leverage guys, so those are the ones we&#8217;ll probably need him to take more of.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Field Level Media<\/p>\n<p class=\"StatsincCopyrightTwo\">\n    Copyright 2026 STATS LLC and Field Level Media. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Field Level Media is strictly prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Edwards is getting closer to returning from his right knee injury, but he will remain sidelined Saturday.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,152,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-683257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116304206828470365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683257","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=683257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}