DES MOINES, IOWA — Jaden McDaniels missed a 3-point attempt, grabbed the offensive rebound and buried an 18-foot jumper at the horn on Friday in Des Moines to send the Timberwolves to the half with a 70-53 lead over the 76ers — a fitting conclusion to an offensively dominant half of basketball.

Minnesota’s offense was a wart a year ago, finishing 17th in offensive rating. The blemish was often covered up by a historically good defense, but the Timberwolves’ lack of ability to reliably get good shots finally reared its ugly hate in a fateful manner in the Western Conference finals.

If the first two preseason games — including Friday’s 121-111 victory — are any indication, that glaring weakness could be a strength in the upcoming campaign; because everything the Timberwolves are doing on that end feels highly repeatable.

You could count the number of bad shots that Minnesota took in the first half on one hand.

“I think everybody is being super unselfish right now. It’s not getting super stagnant,” Naz Reid said. “Everybody wants to see everybody be great, and that’s something we practice, as well. So it’s how you get off of it on the first pass.”

Minnesota was 25 for 46 (54.4%) from the floor over the first 24 minutes. A whopping 27 of those looks were from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Wolves were 15 for 19 (79%) on looks inside the arc. Every possession seemingly ended with an attack off the catch that concluded with a finish at the rim or a kickout to an open triple. Minnesota had 18 assists in the first half.

Anthony Edwards had 13 points in the first half, including a couple catch-and-shoot jumpers, an emphasis of his in the offseason. Reid had 14 points over the first two quarters, while McDaniels had 11.

The good looks are a product of pace and ball movement.

The Wolves had three straight buckets in transition in the second quarter, all in instances where pushing the pace wasn’t the obvious play. But Edwards threw the ball up ahead and it led to easy buckets for players like McDaniels.

Minnesota didn’t have Julius Randle nor Rudy Gobert on Friday, though both are expected to see action on this road trip with upcoming games on Sunday in New York and Wednesday in Chicago. Their presence on the floor will change the complexion of Minnesota’s offense to some degree. But the absence of both bigs led Wolves coach Chris Finch to start Reid at center alongside perimeter players — Mike Conley, Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo and McDaniels.

That will never be a starting five when the Wolves have a healthy roster. But it is a possible combination Minnesota could get to at points during games this season.

“I haven’t really mapped it out yet, but we certainly could do that. It gives us an opportunity to get Donte out there with Ant and Mike,” Finch said. “That’s what we love about our lineup right now, is it gives us a little bit more flexibility. I always thought we had opportunities to put out different lineups, but now we have so much wing depth, that might be something we have to do.”

The evidence of how free-flowing the offense can be when that’s the case was on full display Friday in Iowa. But Finch did warn that Minnesota demonstrated similar levels of ball movement last preseason, and it dissipated the second the regular season lights turned on and stats started to count for real.

“So our challenge is to play like this when the season starts,” Finch said. “But it looked good out there, mixing Donte in and guys were really moving the ball and playing for each other. I liked our cutting, too. It was really good, our movement off the ball. So yeah, it looks great.”

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