WINNIPEG — Andrew Wiggins would like to play a lot of minutes on home soil, but he knows his coach has the final say. He’s OK with that.
The reigning NBA rookie of the year finished with nine points in 23:58 of court time as his Minnesota Timberwolves lost 114-105 to the Chicago Bulls in pre-season action in Winnipeg Saturday night.
Timberwolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell rested Wiggins on and off and said he’s pacing him in the pre-season because of the amount he played in the summer and the 82 games last season.
"He’s the coach. I believe in what he does," said Wiggins, the first-overall 2014 draft pick who hails from Vaughan, Ont.
"He knows better than me. He’s been playing basketball and teaching it before I was alive so I trust him with whatever he has to do with me."
E’Twaun Moore scored 18 points to help lead the Bulls to the victory, while Tyus Jones also led the Timberwolves with 18.
Wiggins received the loudest cheer when he was introduced to the sold-out crowd of 15,294 at MTS Centre, many sporting shirts with his No. 22.
The crowd gave the teams a standing ovation at the end of the game. The last NBA game in Winnipeg in 2012 also drew a packed house.
The teams crossed the border as part of this year’s Canada Series. Five NBA squads are playing four exhibition games in cities that don’t have teams — Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal.
Mitchell described his squad as a young group of guys who played hard and he knew the crowd was looking forward to seeing Wiggins.
"We’ve just got to monitor his minutes," Mitchell said. "I understand that the people in Canada want to see him play and we’re going to get him out there as much as we can. He played well."
Wiggins, 20, is considered a role model for the next wave of aspiring Canadian pro basketball players.
"I’m fine with that. I feel that I carry myself pretty well," Wiggins said after his team’s Saturday morning shootaround.
"I do things off the court, on the court, to help the people around me. I like to give hope, create opportunity for others."
Bulls’ red shirts also peppered the crowd, with fans loudly cheering as the team mounted a 22-point lead with just over nine minutes left in the second quarter.
Minnesota closed the gap to 65-55 at halftime and made it a six-point spread with just over four minutes left in the game before Chicago pulled away.
Wiggins’s older brother, Nick, signed with Minnesota last month. The 24-year-old played 1:31 near the end of the game.
The Timberwolves play the Toronto Raptors in Ottawa on Wednesday. The Canadian Series wraps up Oct. 23 in Montreal with a match between the Raptors and Washington Wizards.
After the game in Winnipeg, Minnesota heads to Toronto for a regular pre-season game Monday against the Raptors.
