Timberwolves beat Hornets 114-93 as Naz Reid scores 25 points off the bench

The Timberwolves were down six points in the first quarter of their 114-93 victory over the Charlotte Hornets when Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo checked into the game. As the starting lineup continues to flounder its way through the early part of the season, the Wolves are fortunate their bench is as good as it is.

“I’m lucky. I have eight starters,” coach Chris Finch said. “Really spoiled for choice there.”

The choices in doling out minutes have been easy for Finch, considering he has stuck to playing his top eight players with only a sliver of time left over for Joe Ingles or Josh Minott in the ninth rotation slot. But when Nickeil Alexander-Walker plays as well as he has in the early part of the season, and Reid and DiVincenzo turn the tide of a game the way they did Monday, it’s hard to argue with Finch giving those players as many minutes as he can.

He didn’t want to take out Reid or DiVincenzo at all. They each played over 14 consecutive minutes without a substitution.

“I mean, Donte played for Thibs,” Finch deadpanned, referencing former Wolves and current New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. “He’s got a big gas tank, and I think that’s probably the most we’ve played guys. … We have that type of team — guys are playing well, you want to keep riding them. Nobody really logged over 30 minutes. Still a challenge for me to get a solid ninth guy in there, but that’s coming.”

BOXSCORE: Timberwolves 114, Charlotte 93

Reid punished a small Charlotte team with a game-high 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting, while DiVincenzo had 14 points and three assists. They each finished as plus-33 for the night, while Alexander-Walker was plus-22.

“He’s [NBA] sixth man of the ear for a reason,” DiVincenzo said of Reid. “What’s underrated is both ends of the floor. He covers up for a lot of stuff for us. I think the beautiful thing about him is he can get it off the board, push it himself, so you can just take off, get to the corners and he’s going to find you. He also can score the bucket better than a lot of other people.”

The bench and the starters are still in the feeling out process of incorporating the styles of DiVincenzo and Randle. The defensive end has been just as inconsistent as the offensive end early on, and the Wolves were focused on tightening that end of the floor Monday. They did so in holding the Hornets under 100 points — the first time they did that this season after doing it 23 times a season ago.

“Take offense out of it,” DiVincenzo said. “Tonight’s focus was us on the defensive end. I think ball pressure was there, second-layer defense was there, rebounding was there. So it was a good game to get under our belt of getting back to who we are.”

DiVincenzo was 3-for-6 from three-point range after shooting just 31% to open the season. He said it isn’t unusual for him to start the season slowly, but his shot looked just fine Monday, especially as he closed the third quarter with a stepback three that got Anthony Edwards (21 points) off the bench all excited. The Wolves are also getting used to playing with him, and Finch has been mixing him in more with Mike Conley, who had one of his best games of the early season with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting. He added five rebounds and four assists.

“I honestly love it,” Conley said. “I love being out there with Donte and Nickeil, just a bunch of multiple playmakers, multiple passes. The ball moves really well. I don’t have to do as much, honestly. I literally can just be a basketball player. … We don’t really have to truthfully have a point guard or somebody designated as that. It gives us another layer of attack for our offense.”

A lot of things looked the way the Wolves envisioned Monday night. Reid was cooking, and he said Monday was an important game for him. Now he wants to show he can stack those kind of performances on top of one another.

“It’s time to show that I’ve put the work in and being able to go to the next level,” Reid said.

But he and the bench have been the most consistent part of the Wolves’ 4-3 start this season. Now for the starters to follow.

“Early part of the season as a coach, you’re not sure what to trust about your team yet,” Finch said. “You know what’s in them, but you have to see it all the time to really trust it. But that was our most sustained effort.”