Timberwolves interim coach Sam Mitchell didn't speak to his starting five after he benched them for most of Friday's second half at Milwaukee. He said there's no reason to do so.

"What do you think? What else needs to be said?" he said before Saturday night's home game vs. Brooklyn, a 132-118 Wolves victory. "If I need to say something after that, after you're not playing the second half, then you don't need to be playing basketball. I don't think there's anything to say. I thought I said it loud and clear last night."

Mitchell praised starting shooting guard Zach LaVine's play, but the coach said his actions spoke loudest about his starters' overall play. Only the second unit got the Wolves — trailing by as many as 27 points — back into the game during a 116-101 loss to the Bucks.

After that loss, young Wolves star Andrew Wiggins said: "If that's his plan, that's his plan. … I played hard."

Rookie star Karl-Anthony Towns was upset and agreed to answer three questions from reporters.

"There's nothing left to say, at that point you start nagging," Mitchell said. "I said what I had to say last night by not playing those guys in the second half. Everyone wants to play, but it's not about just playing. You've got to play with a purpose. Our guys play hard and they try, I just felt their purpose wasn't there with our first group as a whole."

Bjelica is better

Injured forward Nemanja Bjelica declared himself feeling much better after he returned to the court and some basketball activities Saturday, his first such work on a strained right foot that caused him to miss his ninth consecutive game.

Bjelica could return for the first time since the All-Star break on a four-game road trip that begins Friday at Oklahoma City.

Lopez, Young out

The Nets finished a seven-game trip that started Feb. 23 at Portland and did so one night after winning in overtime at Denver by resting starters Brook Lopez at center and former Wolves player Thaddeus Young at forward. They started Thomas Robinson and Willie Reed instead.

And you can't accuse the Nets of tanking for a higher draft pick because Boston owns theirs this summer regardless of Brooklyn's record.

"There's a bigger picture here," Nets interim coach Tony Brown said. "Obviously, we're out of the playoff race. We want to stay in the games, but we also want to be conscious about their physical well-being."

Etc.

• Wolves forward Kevin Garnett (sore knee) and center Nikola Pekovic (sore ankle) along with Bjelica remained out Saturday.

• The Wolves recognized high school boys' teams from Waseca and Marshall before Saturday's game after they played an epic quadruple-overtime game won by Waseca in a state tournament sectional final Thursday. The Waseca team agreed to be honored only if the Marshall team was present as well.