Takeaways: Timberwolves rumble past Atlanta 138-116 as Julius Randle has triple-double

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch mentioned before the team’s game against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night that he and the coaching staff were taking a positive approach in light of the Wolves’ recent funk. He said they were trying to remind the players how good of a team they can be.

For a night, at least, the Wolves were able to channel that energy as they took care of a shorthanded Hawks team in a 138-116 victory before an announced crowd of 17,243 at Target Center.

“Sometimes, it feels like you’re really far away from where you want to be, but you’re actually not,” Finch said. “You just got to remind yourself.”

It was a needed victory for the Wolves after they dropped three of their past four, the last two in ugly fashion in a come-from-ahead loss to the New Orleans Pelicans and a blowout at the hands of the L.A. Clippers.

The win marked a nice bounce back for the Wolves on offense. They shot 60% from the field and had 36 assists.

Julius Randle was the best version of himself on that end with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Wolves are a different team when Randle is hunting for triple-doubles. Anthony Edwards had 30 points, six assists and six rebounds while new acquisition Ayo Dosunmu scored 21 points off the bench.

Finch said assistant coach Pablo Prigioni showed a “teaching tape” to the Wolves of what their offense looks like when it’s operating at the peak of its powers.

“I’ll tell Pablo to play that mixtape before every game,” center Rudy Gobert said.

Randle said he took it upon himself to get the offense’s connectivity back, and he did that in recording his triple double. The Wolves got out in transition (25 fast-break points) in a way they hadn’t been doing recently.

“A lot of next action basketball unlocked a lot of great shots, cutting off the ball. I thought Julius and Ant were really great in that, they led the way making those quick decisions,” Finch said. “All credit really to Pablo. Pablo put together a great like teaching tape for us, what we need to be. And the guys went out and executed.”

With 11:52 left in the fourth quarter, Wolves center Naz Reid took exception to what appeared to be a shove from Atlanta’s Mouhamed Gueye. Reid confronted Gueye and grabbed ahold of his jersey as the two had to be separated.

The Wolves welcomed back former guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker with a highlight video and standing ovation from the crowd during the announcement of the starting lineups. Alexander-Walker has taken advantage of an expanded role this season with the Hawks, who have put him in the starting lineup and given him more shots and ballhandling responsibilities than he had with the Wolves.

BOXSCORE: Wolves 138, Atlanta 116

NBA standings

Alexander-Walker finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

“Honestly, it was pretty amazing for me,” Alexander-Walker said. “Just the magnitude and, I guess, the presence I had here. To me, I didn’t think it was as substantial as they made it to seem. ... I have so much love for Minnesota and the fans, and I want to personally thank everybody for that, as well.”

Dosunmu was especially good in transition, whether he was attacking the rim or setting up teammates like Jaden McDaniels, who had two big slams off passes from Dosunmu. Dosunmu finished 9-for-13 from the field, and the pace he injected into the offense was apparent.

“That’s one of my strengths and I think that’s something that can take this team to another level on both ends of the court, on offense also,” Dosunmu said. “We have so many great talents on offense that can score in so many different ways, so adding a different way to the offense is just going to make it harder to guard.”