The Timberwolves kicked off their new era on Tuesday night, and as expected, the new lineup had its fair share of struggles in a 110-103 season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

There were offensive mistakes early and there were defensive issues everywhere, and although they started to fix some of their early issues in the second half, the Timberwolves ultimately fell short in the season opener.

All in all, Tuesday night was just one game. The Wolves certainly have things to work on, and they gave reason to believe they could figure it out. Here are five things that stood out from the opener:

During the preseason, it seemed like the Timberwolves were on the verge of making significant strides offensively. The Wolves were middle of the pack in offensive class last season, ranking 15th in the 30-team league, but the smooth flow of the preseason offense indicated that Minnesota might be able to field a top 10 offensive unit this season praise.

That probably still could be the case, but six turnovers in the first quarter sapped any early offensive rhythm Tuesday night. Regardless of the lineup, the Wolves were disjointed for much of the night and never really found their offensive flow.

“Really disconnected, just like all the flow, the rhythm and the good will that we built offensively during the preseason, we just didn’t have it,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters afterward. “And when we were able to get some open looks, they weren’t going in there for the most part, but we weren’t generating enough good looks to be able to get any rhythm.”

Finch said he felt the ball movement was getting sticky, which led to many of the early turnovers. He attributed the many early sales figures to “trying to do everything one in five.” Julius Randle said the Wolves were stagnant early, which was evident. It wasn’t the free-flowing offense Finch wants to see, where a lack of ball movement slows down their rhythm.

They also missed shots. The Wolves shot just 41% from the field and 32% from three-point range. They didn’t generate many easy points – just seven fast break points – and they missed a number of wide-open 3s throughout the night.

“We look great,” Anthony Edwards said. “If we make those shots, we win, so I mean, for me it’s that simple. Basketball is that simple. We’re making the open shots that we missed. If I make the open shots I missed, we win the game. It’s that simple.”

It was a struggle on Tuesday, but it was the first game and the issues are all fixable.

The Timberwolves ultimately won the battle on the boards, beating the Lakers 47-46 on Tuesday night.

But they got crushed on the glass early on, an early problem.

The Lakers had 15 offensive rebounds, many of which came during the first half, and that allowed Los Angeles to get early second-chance points. The Lakers were more motivated on the glass, especially early in the game, and between the lack of rebounding and the turnovers, the Wolves dug themselves into a hole of largely their own making.

“I feel like if we had cleaned up the rebounding (Tuesday), we could have won the game,” Randle said. “For me, I take that personally. I pride myself on rebounding the ball, so it’s the little things we just need to clean up and everything else will fall into place.

In addition to the issues on the defensive glass, the Wolves were outgunned and outplayed in the lane for most of the night. The Lakers outscored the Wolves 72-40 in the paint. Those mistakes were most glaring during a 17-2 Lakers run in the second quarter in which they took control of the game. That started when Rudy Gobert was off the floor and Los Angeles scored inside at will, taking advantage of a zone defense that the Wolves ran short into the frame.

“I think there was a lot going on in the game plan (Tuesday), sometimes maybe too much,” Finch said. “Maybe we need to simplify some things here early on. But I didn’t see as much resistance as normal. Even when we had opportunities to contain it, we didn’t do it well early on.”

Finch also lamented the early offensive rebounds that were given up. Randle acknowledged he was beaten a few times during the match by backdoor cuts and said he needs to be better. From top to bottom, the Wolves did not play the same type of defensive observers have become accustomed to in recent seasons, with plenty of uncharacteristic mistakes.

Randle was playing his first regular-season NBA game in quite some time after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery near the end of last season. As expected, some rust was visible on the two-time All-NBA selection.

There were defensive mistakes, early turnovers and some offensive struggles. Ultimately, the numbers weren’t terrible, as Randle finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two turnovers, but there were obvious issues as well.

“I didn’t really have any expectations other than to win,” Randle said. “I didn’t think it was going to be beautiful or perfect or whatever it is. Like I said, it’s the first game. I just came in expecting to win, but we didn’t get the job done and we had a lot of clean-up to do and a lot of potential, room to grow.”

Randle said he feels great physically and noted the factors of the long layoff, the new team and the new environment, explicitly saying none of these factors are an excuse. His focus is on continuing to improve and clear up the miscues.

After looking like he couldn’t miss a shot during the preseason, DiVincenzo struggled with his shot Tuesday night and couldn’t find a rhythm early. He picked things up in the second half and demonstrated the playing skills he has shown throughout pre-season. Ultimately, he finished with 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting, three assists and a pair of steals.

One of the interesting storylines leading into the season was what Finch would do with the rotation on one of the deepest teams in the league. While the top eight was taken into account, there were several players in the preseason who argued for a potential ninth spot in the rotation, which went to Joe Ingles in Tuesday night’s season opener.

The veteran played just seven minutes and finished with a plus-minus of plus-one. He attempted just one shot – a missed three-pointer – and recorded an assist. As expected, he ran a few pick-and-rolls during his minutes with Gobert, who Ingles was teammates with at Utah. It was only the first game, and it still wouldn’t be surprising to see Josh Minott score some points as well, but for now it looks like Ingles will be the person Finch turns to when he takes the ninth spot in the frees up rotation.