Timberwolves throttle Bulls with record-setting 150 points as Anthony Edwards takes command

There have been plenty of times the Timberwolves offense has looked clueless and clunky for one reason or another.

Maybe it was the fit between Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Maybe it has been because some key starters and rotation players have been missing. It was just a few nights ago in Los Angeles the Wolves set a number of season lows in a loss to the Clippers.

All this is to say, if a bookie was laying odds on this Wolves team setting a franchise record for most points in a game, they couldn't set a number high enough.

That's what made Sunday night's 150-126 Wolves victory over the Bulls all the more improbable.

The Wolves set a franchise record for most points in their best offensive display of the season. This came despite the early-season struggles and without Towns, Gobert and ball-moving point guard Jordan McLaughlin.

Or as Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan put it to reporters: "It's embarrassing to give up that many points. Nothing against Minnesota, but it's not like we playing against the 2016 Golden State Warriors."

Sunday's record performance came with D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards leading one of the most efficient nights of basketball in Wolves history. They topped by one point the 149 they scored in a March 14 victory at San Antonio, a game that featured Towns' 60 points.

Russell, back after missing two games because of a left knee contusion, started on fire and never let up with 28 points on 10-for-14 and a season high seven three-pointers. One of those threes was a 36-foot splashdown to beat the shot clock in the second quarter. That's how much Russell couldn't miss. He also had eight assists.

"It's trusting the offense," Russell said. "I've been saying it, when we do that, it can be anybody's night. Tonight, we saw it as a collective group."

By trusting the offense, Russell is echoing what Finch has often said — that players should just trust the movement and structure of the offense and not try to force their shots.

Edwards did that and carried Russell's burning flame into the second half. He scored 19 of his 37 in a 42-point third quarter that distanced the Wolves on the scoreboard. They led by 16 and didn't stop missing. Edwards added a career-high 11 assists and seven rebounds. He has embraced his increased responsibilities as a playmaker with Towns out.

"Now I'm on the ball every time, so I get to see everything," Edwards said. "It's pretty dope. It's actually fun, like I'm having the most fun I ever had playing basketball."

The Wolves got contributions up and down the bench, with Nathan Knight scoring 16 points while filling in for an injured Naz Reid, who left in the second quarter because of a back/neck muscle injury.

"Share the pill," Knight said of the Wolves' big night. "The ball was moving. Everybody was touching the ball. Everybody was happy."

Sunday's victory comes after the Wolves had a solid offensive night in Friday's victory at Oklahoma City. This time in the season mirrors what happened to the Wolves last December, when they had to play for a while without several key contributors when COVID-19 ran through the team around Christmas.

A struggling Wolves team at the time learned some things about how it had to play on offense and from January onward, the Wolves had the most efficient offense in the league. Finch said he can sense a similar theme developing.

"Everywhere I've ever been offensively, certainly when you have a new group, it takes about 20-25 games. It just does," Finch said. "... What it shows you is that we're not holding the ball as much. We have less ball stoppers on the floor at any given time, and now we can see the rhythm of the offense."

Now, to keep it up.