Coming off another strong fourth quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans, LaMelo Ball and the Minnesota Timberwolves came home with eight straight games at Target Center on the schedule.

Even without Anthony Edwards, the lengthy home stand gives Minnesota the opportunity to stack wins and keep pace in a hellacious Western Conference so that when the travel schedule inevitably gets tougher, there is a built-in margin of error.

Positive: Rebounding

The Timberwolves out-rebounded the Jazz 45 to 37. So far this season, the Wolves rank 5th in rebounding percentage, a sizeable jump from their finish of 11th a season ago.

The Wolves, so far this season, have largely done a good job on the defensive glass, which is an especially positive sign given that rebounding was seen as one of the team's weaknesses following the trades of both Julius Randle and Naz Reid.

The Wolves gained some size when they brought in Jonathan Kuminga, but they were still relatively undersized at the power forward position. To keep opponents from killing them on the offensive glass, they would need to have an increased focus on that area of the game.

Through 11 games of the Timberwolves' season, that is what we've seen. There have been very few games, if any, where rebounding has been a cause for concern, even when they have played bigger teams like the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The biggest reason, not surprisingly, has been Rudy Gobert, who is leading the team with more than 11 rebounds per game. Behind him, Joan Beringer has been a quality defensive rebounder and continues to improve in that area at just 19 years old.

On the wing, Kuminga and Jaden McDaniels have each provided a large amount of rebounding value. Both are currently on pace to have their career-best season on the glass and have clearly put in work to be a bigger factor in that part of their games.

An exceedingly important factor is that the Wolves have played fantastically to begin the season. It becomes much easier to box out for defensive rebounds when in the proper defensive position.

Defensive rebounding will likely be a focus for the Timberwolves all season, as Minnesota has all the necessary parts to be a great defensive team. The only aspect of the game that could hold them back is their lack of size, and so far that has been closer to a strength than a weakness.

Negative: Jaden McDaniels Shot Attempts

Jaden McDaniels finished the game with only nine shots. While he still had a quality game with 16 points, six rebounds, and a plus-17 on-off number, the Wolves will still need to find a way to get McDaniels more shots while also decreasing the difficulty.

McDaniels seemed primed in the preseason to take a large leap on the offensive end, and with Edwards missing significant time, it appeared even more likely that McDaniels was going to take a step forward.

That has largely happened, and McDaniels has been a huge reason the Timberwolves are 8-3 this season. If there is a nitpick, though, there seems to be another level that the Wolves' forward can reach if the shots can be more consistent in the offense.

McDaniels has done well finding his shots within the flow of the offense as well as knocking down contested shots, mostly in the short midrange. Sometimes, in games like this one, the ball doesn't end up flowing naturally to McDaniel, and the Wolves end up underutilizing him for the game.

A possible solution may be to run more direct actions for McDaniels. In a fully healthy lineup, there may not be as many opportunities for that, but with Edwards injured, that should open up plenty of usage for McDaniels.

Chris Finch has said at many points that McDaniels is the barometer of the offense. If the Wolves want to become one of the best offenses in the NBA, it will likely come by increasing McDaniels' usage without cannibalizing the rest of his game or the offense as a whole.