Detroit comes to Target Center carrying last season's best record in the NBA, built on a net rating of 8.4; Minnesota comes in with a reshaped roster still finding its footing after a 3.1 mark of its own. The record tonight is still 0-0 for both sides, so the numbers that actually built each team, not the score, are the ones worth studying before the real season starts October 21.
A Contender's Resume
Detroit went 60-22 last season, the NBA's best record, with a net rating of 8.4 built on an offense that scored 117.3 points per hundred possessions and a defense that allowed just 108.9. Cade Cunningham averaged 23.9 points and 9.9 assists across 64 games, and Jalen Duren added 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds across 70; both carry rest designations entering tonight, which says more about J.B. Bickerstaff's caution with a team built for the long season than it does about tonight's lineup card. Minnesota finished 13th in offense last season, a gap this preseason stretch is meant to close before October 21.
The Anchor's Numbers
Minnesota's own defense ranked eighth last season at 112.5, with Rudy Gobert pulling down 11.5 rebounds and scoring 10.9 points across 76 games, still the identity at the center of the team at 34 years old. Duren nearly matches him on the glass, which makes tonight's matchup a rare early look at two of the league's better rim protectors before either number means anything in the standings.
A Closing Wobble
Minnesota finished last season at 3.1 net rating, 13th in offense, but closed the year minus 6.4 over its final ten games after sitting at plus 2.2 for the full season. The front office answered that stretch this summer by adding LaMelo Ball, who scored 20.1 points and handed out 7.1 assists a game in Charlotte. Whether that backcourt solves the problem that closed last season is a question no preseason game can answer; the ten weeks starting October 21 will.
Does tonight's preseason game against Detroit count toward the standings?
No, both teams are 0-0 and preseason results do not count; Minnesota's regular season opens October 21 at Miami.
What is the status of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren tonight?
Both carry rest designations entering the game, a precaution for a team that finished 60-22 last season with nothing left to prove in a preseason matchup.
