Chris Finch gives Julius Randle his flowers after spoiling Zion Williamson's return

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The Minnesota Timberwolves were able to spoil Zion Williamson’s return to the floor, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 104-97. Julius Randle was a key to the victory, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, and three assists, and after the game, head coach Chris Finch gave him his flowers for the way he’s been playing.

“Listen, I got a lot of respect, admiration for Julius,” Finch said via Timberwolves reporter Chris Hine. “His shot attempts overall are down from where he was in New York. His numbers have been in line with them too, so he’s having a bit more of an efficient season for us. We’ve asked him to do different things at different times as our team ebbed and flowed. ‘Hey we need you to score more. Hey, we need you to pass more. Hey, we need you to create more offense. We need you to handle more. Pick up the pace for us. He’s tried to respond to it all.

“I’m always conscious we’re asking him to do a lot of things, and maybe he’s not able to settle into his own rhythm sometimes. But he’s been a trooper. He’s guarded a lot. Taken a lot of really good matchups for us, and tonight was a good example of that.”

Randle has been adjusting to his new team this season, and it sounds like he’s been making progress recently, which made Finch want to acknowledge him. The Timberwolves are definitely not where they want to be but as time progresses, they should be able to build more chemistry.

Julius Randle building chemistry with Timberwolves

Julius Randle was traded to the Timberwolves in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns, and he’s still growing and building with his new team. After their win on Christmas against the Dallas Mavericks, Randle opened up about his change of being more of a facilitator than a scorer.

"That’s really been the biggest change. You’re somewhere for five years, playing a certain way and I come here and it’s a little bit different," Randle said via Chris Hine. "I love my role here. I love playing with my teammates, but finding what helps the team and what the team needs the most on a night-to-night basis has been the harder part. But everybody has been great with me, coaches included, helping me adjust and figuring things out."

The Timberwolves have had some ups and downs this season, most likely because of the chemistry issues, but recently, it has seemed like things are getting better.

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