Three observations from the Timberwolves' preseason win in Abu Dhabi

With Anthony Edwards resting an injured left ankle, the Timberwolves opened their preseason with a 111-99 win over the Mavericks at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Karl-Anthony Towns was aggressive early on offense and helped the Wolves jump out to a 29-point lead in the first thanks to his team-high 20 points. Naz Reid also looked in midseason form with 16 points off the bench as he returned to game action for the first time since fracturing his left wrist last March, an injury that caused Reid to miss the postseason.

The Wolves jumped out to a 19-3 lead and never trailed the rest of the game. They'll play the Mavericks again in Abu Dhabi on Saturday before returning to Minnesota.

Wolves coach Chris Finch said in a video conference with reporters that Edwards was able to still finish practice Wednesday after he "tweaked" his ankle. The injury is not considered serious and the Wolves are hopeful Edwards can play Saturday.

"Just being super cautionary right now with that," Finch said.

Here are some observations from Thursday's win:

One of the best developments for the Wolves at the end of last season was the emergence of Nickeil Alexander-Walker as an important part of the rotation. After coming from Utah in the Mike Conley-D'Angelo Russell trade, Alexander-Walker didn't play much initially, but his defense, effort and ability to hit enough open threes earned him minutes. Then when Jaden McDaniels went out because of a broken hand on the last day of the regular season, Alexander-Walker became a starter and most important perimeter defender in the playoffs.

With Edwards out, Alexander-Walker was in the starting lineup again and he had 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks while helping key a strong defensive effort from the Wolves early. He hit 3-for-5 from three-point range.

"He looks like midseason form out there with his fitness level, his sharpness, his decision-making and his confidence," coach Chris Finch said.

As Finch figures out what he's going to do with his rotation early in the season, Alexander-Walker, who signed a two-year deal this offseason, has played his way into significant minutes. Thursday only reinforced that.

The Wolves have high hopes after adding Shake Milton in the offseason, and if there was a question who would be the backup point guard between him or Jordan McLaughlin to start the season, it appears as if that will be Milton. He was one of the first players off the bench and mixed in with the second unit to play 20 minutes while McLaughlin played 11, some with the second unit and then reserves.

Finch has said the Wolves would like Milton to score more and they want him to take more threes than he did last season with Philadelphia, where he shot 1.9 per game from deep a season ago. He was 2-for-3 from three-point range and looked like a natural fit offensively with the way Finch wants to play. He finished with 12 points and four rebounds.

"We've talked a lot about him internally and been so happy and surprised, even better than we thought he could be," Finch said. "And he's playing really well within our system, but I want him to be even more aggressive as a scorer. But he made a lot of really good plays for us."

Finch mentioned Milton and Alexander-Walker as players who can find their offense within the cracks of a defense that is focusing more on the Wolves' heavy hitters.

"It's not their job to score for us, it's their job to create offense," Finch said. "Sometimes, it'll be for themselves. Sometimes, it'll be for their teammates, and they've just got to be willing to keep trusting their teammates."

The Wolves held Dallas without a field goal for the first 6 minutes, 7 seconds of the game. Meanwhile Towns helped kick-start the offense with nine first-quarter points while Alexander-Walker had eight. The Wolves had a number of players participate in the World Cup this summer, and Finch said their fitness level has carried over. The large lead they built early, he said, was a product of that.

"They've all come into camp in great shape," Finch said. "No one was really banged up from those campaigns. KAT looked really good, as did everyone I thought. Our starting unit looked really good."

Finch has had an added emphasis on the Wolves' spacing on offense, and he liked what he saw from the main rotation pieces.

"We've been preaching about really good spacing. I thought our spacing for the most part was good," Finch said. "Rudy [Gobert] stayed patient in the dunker [spot]. We had opportunities to roll through the middle of the floor against their switches. I thought we punished their switches with our bigger lineups at times, and we really got off the ball in a crowd."

As for the lineups, Finch played the starters between 17-22 minutes and said he doesn't want to waste the preseason opportunities the Wolves have. They only have three preseason games after leaving Abu Dhabi. Once the season arrives, he'd like to arrive at a nine-man rotation.

"We're looking at it right now as mostly a nine-man rotation," Finch said. "Of course that could change as ever, but we have a lot of guys. We feel like we have 11 good rotation players on this team. It's going to be good for competition for minutes, for sure."

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.