The Chicago Bulls ended the preseason with a 114-105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, finishing 1-4 in exhibition games.

Nikola Vučević led the Bulls with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Ayo Dosunmu scored 15 points and added two steals in his second start of the preseason.

The Bulls have five days to prepare for their season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.

Here are six takeaways from Thursday’s game.

1. Patrick Williams and Coby White likely to start in the opener.

Coach Billy Donovan started Williams and White in all five preseason games — and that will most likely continue into the regular season.

Donovan did not commit to a starting lineup for opening day after Thursday’s game. But he said it’s a “fair assessment” that White and Williams will continue in their roles.

2. Zach LaVine and Andre Drummond sit out, Alex Caruso returns.

LaVine (illness) and Drummond (personal reasons) did not attend Thursday’s game. Donovan said LaVine’s illness was not a long-term concern. LaVine stayed home and did not practice Thursday as a precaution to keep the rest of the team healthy.

Caruso returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. Caruso had tweaked his ankle during practice and was held out as a precaution, but Donovan said the guard likely would have played if it had been a regular-season game.

3. Patrick Williams responds to pressure.

Just two days after he was yanked in the third minute of the Raptors game, Williams responded with a decisive first half — crushing a dunk off a baseline cut on the second play of the game, pinballing through traffic for layups and pulling down rebounds on the defensive end.

“He had a look in his eye before the game,” White said after the loss.

By the end of the first quarter, Williams had surpassed his preseason high rebounding total with four.

It wasn’t a perfect night for Williams. He finished 0-for-7 from 3-point range, a rarity that is unlikely to repeat often for a player who was the Bulls’ most accurate 3-point shooter last season, and 3-for-12 overall. More concerning was his continued pattern of fading after intermission — Williams didn’t record a rebound or point in the second half.

But the improvement satisfied Donovan, who praised the way Williams affected the game regardless of his off-shooting night.

“He shot the ball really poorly tonight. Really poorly,” Donovan said. “And everybody felt his presence in the game.”

4. Anthony Edwards throws down the hammer.

The NBA is bracing for a breakout season from Anthony Edwards, who showcased why opponents are dreading facing him.

The star lit up highlight reels in the second quarter when he launched from just below the free-throw line for a dunk, clicking his heels as he floated over the paint to hammer the ball through the rim with one hand. But his connection with Rudy Gobert — including a deadly lob pass over White later in the quarter — showcased the variety of ways Edwards can pick apart a defense.

Edwards finished with 19 points and five rebounds, sitting for most of the second half.

5. Extra perimeter passes help 3-point volume.

After three games of returning to a low volume of long-range shots, the Bulls upped the ante from behind the 3-point arc.

Players whipped extra passes to the wings in an effort to trade 2-point attempts for 3-pointers, at times passing up open shots under the rim to spray the ball out to the perimeter. The offense logged 30 shots from behind the arc by the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter, when deep rotational players Terry Taylor and Carlik Jones entered the game.

The Bulls were not rewarded for their effort, finishing 11-for-36 from 3-point range — a statistic hurt by Williams’ 0-for-7 outing. But the pace and balance of the offense reflected the ideal for an improved version of offense.

6. Julian Phillips shows out in garbage time.

The final minutes of a preseason game are not a fair estimation of a player’s ability. Nevertheless, Julian Phillips made the most of his six minutes on the court closing out Thursday’s loss.

The rookie bounded in transition for an alley-oop fed by Dalen Terry and soared over opponents to smack away a block. Phillips finished with five points, including a 3-pointer from the corner.

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Class 6A football’s March Madness-style, 32-team bracket dropped Friday morning, setting the stage for next week’s first round of playoffs for Minnesota’s largest high schools.

Lakeville South, Centennial, Stillwater and Eden Prairie received the No. 1 seeds, as expected.

Teams are seeded by section, and then the seeds are scrambled into four separate quadrants of a full-on, single-elimination bracket. So a No. 4 seed from one section plays a No. 5 seed from another section, and so on. No teams from within the same section meet in the first round.

The Cougars nabbed the top spot in their section by virtue of a mid-September victory over rival Lakeville North. At first glance, that victory carries a lot of weight. As Lakeville South ended up on the opposite side of the bracket as Lakeville North, top-ranked Eden Prairie and defending state champion Maple Grove, and wouldn’t play any of those teams until a potential state championship game.

Lakeville North, meanwhile, appears to be on a collision course with Eden Prairie in the state quarterfinals. The Panthers and Eagles are currently the top two teams in the Associated Press state rankings.

Here is the entire 32-team bracket, with first-round matchups included. (The winner of Quadrant 1 will meet the winner of Quadrant 2 in the state semifinals, while the winner of Quadrant 3 will play the winner of Quadrant 4). All first-round matchups are set for Friday, Oct. 27.

The first two rounds are played at the home site of the better seed, while state quarterfinals are played at neutral sites and state semifinals and finals are played at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Quadrant 1

No. 8 Burnsville at No. 1 Centennial

No. 5 Prior Lake at No. 4 Mounds View

No. 6 Blaine at No. 3 Rosemount

No. 7 Buffalo at No. 2 Woodbury

Quadrant 2

No. 8 Roseville at No. 1 Lakeville South

No. 5 Champlin Park at No. 4 Shakopee

No. 6 East Ridge at No. 3 Anoka

No. 7 Eastview at No. 2 Minnetonka

Quadrant 3

No. 8 Osseo at No. 1 Eden Prairie

No. 5 White Bear Lake at No. 4 Eagan

No. 6 Wayzata at No. 3 Forest Lake

No. 7 Coon Rapids at No. 2 Lakeville North

Quadrant 4

No. 8 Hopkins at No. 1 Stillwater

No. 5 Rochester Mayo at No. 4 St. Michael-Albertville

No. 6 Farmington at No. 3 Edina

No. 7 Park at No. 2 Maple Grove

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When asked about his emotions going into Sunday’s game at M&T Bank Stadium against the highly regarded Detroit Lions, Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith had a calm answer.

“I just think about it … Sunday, we’ll be ready, so we’ll be ready to welcome those guys here,” said Smith, who leads the team in tackles with 63. ‘They’re playing good ball, but, hey, I’m from the ‘Show Me’ business, so you have to show me.”

The Lions (5-1) are probably saying the same thing about the Ravens (4-2), especially Baltimore’s No. 2 ranked defense. The Ravens are No. 10 in rush defense (97.7 yards allowed per game) and No. 2 in pass defense (163.3).

But the Ravens have yet to play an offense as diversified as Detroit’s, which is averaging 383.7 total yards — and they certainly haven’t played a quarterback as good as Jared Goff.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow was struggling with a calf injury, and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kenny Pickett was hobbled by a bruised knee. The Cleveland Browns’ Deshaun Watson didn’t play in Week 4 because of a shoulder injury.

Welcome to the “Show Me” Bowl.

“I think Jared Goff’s made some of the smartest passes, smartest plays,” Ravens outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney said. “He’s out there calling the shots, and the offensive line — that’s a good group. They put together a lot of first-round draft picks up there — a lot of guys that can move the defensive line.

“It’s going to come down to that in this game — their [offensive] front vs. our [defensive] front. We know that going into this game who’s going to dominate the line of scrimmage. I think that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

When the Ravens beat Cincinnati, 27-24, five weeks ago, Burrow and the Bengals’ passing game were still out of whack. Cleveland wasn’t a threat without Watson in a 28-3 loss, and the Steelers managed a 17-10 victory even without injured star receiver Diontae Johnson.

Detroit doesn’t have such limitations. The Lions average 124.2 rushing yards and 259.5 passing yards per game, which is No. 8 and No. 4, respectively, in the NFL. Detroit might be without starting running back David Montgomery (ribs) but they have a capable replacement in rookie Jahmyr Gibbs.

Detroit also has three good receivers in Amon-Ra St. Brown (38 catches for 455 yards and three touchdowns), Josh Reynolds (19 catches, 341 yards, 3 TDs) and Sam LaPorta (29 catches, 325 yards, 3 TDs). Detroit’s running game also makes the play-action passing game hard to stop. The Lions have 32 plays of 20-plus yards and have recorded at least 350 total net yards in their first six games.

Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald calls the offense multifaceted, which might be an understatement.

“It’s a lot. I guess the first word that I would say is multiple and balanced,” Macdonald said. “They’re able to get to a lot of things easily with their personnel being able to move guys around using all their pieces. I think their run game mixes all the zone [scheme] and the gap [scheme] world mixed with under center. They’re very explosive with the under-center, play-action pass.

“Then, you couple that with the dropback [passing] game and being able to get guys in space and find matchups and things like that. Those are the things you definitely have to account for. Then, they do a great job of obviously running the ball and then protecting the quarterback where he can operate back there. Obviously, he knows where to go with the ball. Overall, I think the numbers support it, but it’s a very good offense.”

It will be interesting to see whether the Ravens’ banged-up secondary can control the Lions’ receivers. Starting safety Marcus Williams is basically playing with one arm because of previously injured pectoral muscle and he suffered a hamstring injury Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey is better inside over the slot than outside, but he gives the Ravens some options. Fellow starting cornerback Brandon Stephens is a converted safety and the Lions will probably attack him immediately.

In previous games, the Ravens have been able to lay off in coverage because they didn’t face a quarterback who could challenge them consistently down the field.

The Lions present a different challenge.

“I think this is Year 3 for him, so he’s an experienced guy,” Stephens said of St. Brown. “He’s their go-to guy, so we know we have to be ready to play him.

“We know this is a big game for both of us. We know we’re going to get every team’s best when they come into our stadium. We just have to play our game. We don’t need to change anything that we’re doing. We don’t need to make it bigger than what it is. At the end of the day, we just need to be 1-0 and at the end of this week.”

Much of this game will be decided by the pass rush. The Buffalo Bills and the Ravens are tied for the league lead with 24 sacks, followed by the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Chargers with 21.

Defensive tackle Justin Madubuike leads the team with 4 1/2, followed by weakside linebacker Patrick Queen and Clowney with 3 1/2 and safety Kyle Hamilton with three. Clowney has nine hurries and Madubuike has eight.

Meanwhile, Detroit has allowed only 10 sacks in 216 dropbacks. That’s a sack rate of 4.6%, which ranks fifth in the NFL and is well below the league average of 6.8%.

“Obviously, they’re very good,” Ravens outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. “They have one loss. They’re leading [the NFC North] division. They’ve won their recent games by large margins. They haven’t even been in a close game, I don’t think, since early in the season.

“They’re tough. They’re physical. They’re legit. We’re looking forward to the game. [We] can’t wait to get out there and play,” he said.

“Show Me” time begins Sunday. It’s on.

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