There was a surprise Monday night for those who follow the Timberwolves — guard Bones Hyland was back in the rotation.
For at least a night, Hyland supplanted Rob Dillingham as the 10th man off the bench. Earlier in the season, Hyland was getting rotation minutes. But then he was out of the mix for several weeks. Ahead of Monday night’s game, Hyland hadn’t been playing much in anything beyond garbage time.
But coach Chris Finch saw this wasn’t affecting how Hyland was showing up to practices and his workouts every day.
“I thought we’re 24 games in, and I thought it was time to try something different,” Finch said of his decision to give Hyland more run. “He’s been patient. He’s been playing really well in practice doing everything we ask him to do. We need a spark there.”
Hyland did give them a spark with 14 points off the bench in a 108-105 loss to Phoenix at Target Center. That was more than the rest of the Wolves bench scored combined in the defeat. Finch even had Hyland in the game for the final minutes as the Wolves were trying to come back. The coach had told Hyland after Monday’s shootaround to be ready, and he was.
“I feel like when you just appreciate the work and appreciate your journey, the basketball gods reward you,” Hyland said. “So, I’ve been doing nothing but just staying ready, working my tail off, and tonight, the shots was able to fall for me.”
Hyland also got high praise from Anthony Edwards, who said he has always been impressed with Hyland’s game even before they were teammates.
“Like sometimes, you can just see some people are meant to be a star,” said Edwards, who scored 40 points in Monday’s loss. “And I feel like I may not know the criteria to being a star, but if I think I do, I think he’s one of them.”
