Anthony Edwards had only five points and D'Angelo Russell was out for the Timberwolves. On another night this might have spelled doom for the Wolves, especially against a quality team like Denver.
But it didn't much matter in the Wolves' 130-115 blowout of the Nuggets on Tuesday night in which the Wolves led by as many as 30 points.
A few weeks ago, coach Chris Finch was critical of the bench, which let the Wolves down in a winnable game at Memphis. On Tuesday, the bench carried the Wolves past the Nuggets — and then some.
The second quarter was a blueprint for how the bench can play the rest of the season. The reserves scored 68 points, led by Taurean Prince with 23. Three other subs scored in double figures: Naz Reid with 12, Malik Beasley with 12 and Jaylen Nowell with 10. Jordan McLaughlin has returned from the land of DNPs (did not play-coach's decision) and will keep earning time with games like Tuesday, when he scored nine points and had seven assists.
As Karl-Anthony Towns said, the Wolves put on film how they can look when they're clicking.
"It was a great feeling to see them balling the way they were tonight, just up and down the roster. We did a great job of playing Timberwolves basketball," Towns said. "Great defense. It was a great game. It was a great game for us to have tape of, it was a great game to build confidence."
Tuesday also continued a trend of the Wolves getting significant contributions up and down the roster from people not named Towns, Russell or Edwards. Jaden McDaniels went 9-for-9 from the field Sunday against Utah. Jarred Vanderbilt had 18 points and nine rebounds against Denver, his former team, as he got the Wolves off to a strong start in the first quarter.
Finch said recently the Wolves and Vanderbilt have worked on his spacing in the so-called "dunker" spot, and that has led to improved scoring for Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt averaged 8.7 points per game in January, his most productive month of the season, in addition to his big scoring night Tuesday.
"We felt that was something we weren't doing very well," Finch said of getting Vanderbilt the ball in that spot. "I think we're seeing the benefit of that right now with him. He's so good down there, he's so active. Technically, we weren't really that clean with it. So now we're doing a better job."
There were no starters on the floor during the big second quarter Tuesday, when the Wolves outscored Denver 39-23. Finch has often inserted the missing Russell into the bench units, but he said they would look at continuing the all-bench lineups even as Russell returns.
That unit has shown plenty of chemistry. Reid probably has played with McLaughlin more than anyone on the roster going back to their days in the G-League at Iowa.
"I know exactly what he's doing, especially in the single-side pick-and-roll," Reid said. "I know to roll with force, absolute force."
Reid wasn't the only bench member playing with force. Towns was asked if he thought the Wolves were peaking now. He said he hesitates to use the word peak.
"That means that we have no more left to give," Towns said. "I think there is another level, multiple levels we can hit as a team with the talent we have and everything. … I love that everyone's just bought into being the best basketball players they can be.
"How many times we take flights and everyone's on an iPad watching film, everyone's looking at a game, looking at the next opponent, maybe finding different ways they can benefit the team, it's just contagious. It's going around the team and it's a great thing."
