Missing all five starters, Timberwolves rally late to defeat Celtics 108-103

At 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C., Greg Monroe was just waking up. To a new day, a fresh opportunity. He had signed a 10-day contract with the Timberwolves, and he was trying to get to Minnesota, via Chicago, in time for the game Monday with Boston, which would be his first in the NBA in more than two years.

His first flight was canceled.

"It was a whirlwind," he said of a day that started in D.C. and ended with him coming off the bench to play 25 minutes, score 11 points, grab nine rebounds and dish six assists for a Minnesota team that, missing all five starters because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, still beat the Celtics 108-103.

As recently as mid-December, Jaylen Nowell couldn't get off the Wolves bench and into the rotation. Wolves coach Chris Finch knew how good the young guard was but struggling to find him time.

COVID changed that.

As the Wolves walked off the Target Center floor Monday night, Nowell was the game's leading scorer, with a career-high 29 points. He made 10 of 18 shots, six of nine threes. Attacking, hitting from deep, Monday he did it all.

"My confidence never wavers, even when I'm not playing," said Nowell, whose mother was in the stands watching Monday.

As often as not, Nathan Knight has found himself in the G-League and not the NBA this season. A promising young player, there wasn't playing time behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid. Monday there was. And in his first NBA start, shaking off a first-half ankle injury, he finished with 20 points with 11 rebounds, hitting both his three-point shots.

"You hate to have guys out with COVID," he said. "but an opportunity is an opportunity."

BOXSCORE: Wolves 108, Boston 103

As hundreds of players — including 17 between the two teams at Target Center on Monday — have found themselves in the league's health and safety protocols, people have bemoaned the use of what are essentially replacement players and the quality of play that has resulted.

But anyone who watched the effort, team play and energy the severely shorthanded Wolves (16-17) showed against the Celtics had to come away impressed.

Finch was.

"Absolutely, 100 percent. Very, very, very proud of these guys," he said. "Every day it's like one more guy is not here, one more coach is not there, one more thing has the ability to affect your preparation and your mind-set. They haven't let that happen at all. They've come out and played hard."

The Wolves were down five starters, eight players total and two assistant coaches.

Didn't matter. Down 11 late in the third quarter the Wolves used a 23-5 run from that point into the fourth to take the lead for good. Then they held on to break a two-game losing streak. The Wolves had five players in double figures — Nowell, Knight, Monroe, Malik Beasley (15) and Jaden McDaniels (17).

Moving the ball and moving without it, the Wolves had 30 assists on 40 made baskets. Despite missing so many players, they got 46 points off the bench, led by Nowell.

By the time the game ended the Wolves were essentially running the offense through Monroe, even though the big center didn't even know everyone's name.

The Wolves trailed 76-65 with 3:58 left in the third. Over the next 7:46, with seven players scoring, the Wolves outscored the Celtics 23-5 to take a seven-point lead with 8:12 left. That lead never got smaller than four, and grew and one point to 10.

Boston (16-18), which got 26 points from Jaylen Brown (on 24 shots) and 22 from Payton Pritchard, shot 37.1% overall, 7-for-22 in the fourth.

"Every time we're coming in, we feel we have something to prove," Nowell said. "That's just fact. We're going to continue to play as hard as we can, play as a team, and try to get more wins."