The Timberwolves guard talked about the team’s early-season play and working amongst the second unit
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham has remained a consistent option off the bench in his second season in the NBA.
In 11.2 minutes per game this season, he’s averaging 4.7 points and 2.1 assists, which is almost identical to the numbers he put up in his rookie campaign last season.
Five weeks into year two, Dillingham appears to be settling in well, recently saying he has become more comfortable out on the court when it has come to his decision-making.
“I’m just taking the opportunity if I’m open, shoot it, if I’m not, trying not to second guess it,” Dillingham said during a Nov. 19 interview. “But I feel like with more experience comes more comfortability.”
How Has Minnesota Fared This Season?
Dillingham is just one of several role players who have served an important role in Minnesota’s early success.
The Timberwolves are off to a 10-5 start and remain in the mix amidst an uber-competitive Western Conference, and it goes beyond just Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle and the starting group for Minnesota.
Dillingham, typically alongside Mike Conley, Naz Reid, Jaylen Clark, and Bones Hyland, makes up a solid second unit – a unit the franchise will lean on as the season progresses.
The Timberwolves have won six of their last seven games, only falling to the Denver Nuggets in this recent November stretch. In fact, all of Minnesota’s losses have come against teams in high standing in their respective conferences, as the team has lost to the Nuggets twice, the Los Angeles Lakers twice, and the New York Knicks once.
“I would say last year, we know what the games that we dropped meant to us, so this year, we don’t want to drop any games that we know we can win because later in the end, it gets close,” Dillingham said. “So really we just trying to win all the games we can.”
Minnesota has an upcoming two-game stretch against the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings before taking on a conference juggernaut in the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. The Timberwolves have yet to play the Suns or Thunder, but did play the Kings earlier this month on Nov. 9, defeating Sacramento in convincing fashion, 144-117 in California.
That contest actually marked Dillingham’s best scoring outing of the young season, as he tallied 11 points in 16 minutes off the bench in Minnesota’s winning effort.
The Timberwolves’ game against the Suns tips off at 9 p.m. EST on Nov. 21.