SACRAMENTO, CALIF. – Jordan McLaughlin had an open lane late in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves' 134-114 victory over Sacramento and the 5-foot-11 point guard seized his chance for a dunk.
Jordan McLaughlin's play off the bench leads Timberwolves to 134-114 victory over Sacramento
The Wolves bench turned in another sterling performance, to the tune of 72 points.
February 9, 2022 at 7:11AM
His teammates on the bench went crazy. Shortly after that, McLaughlin checked out of the game and those same teammates couldn't wait to embrace him. They would have messed up his hair if the shaven-headed McLaughlin had any.
"There was no water, thankfully," McLaughlin said. "But all the guys cheered for me and they appreciated what I did out there."
McLaughlin exited with 11 points on 5 of 5 shooting to go with a career-high tying 11 assists. It was another pitch perfect performance running the Wolves' second unit, a unit which again carried the lackluster starters to an easy victory.
"He's been the MVP of our team in a lot of ways," coach Chris Finch said. "He's generating so much great offense out there."
McLaughlin's connection with Malik Beasley proved fruitful again, with Beasley catching fire from three-point range for 21 points on 7 of 8 from deep. The Wolves' bench posted 72 points to Sacramento's 32 and made sure the Wolves didn't embarrass themselves against an undermanned Kings team that traded guard Tyrese Haliburton, sharpshooter Buddy Hield and forward Tristan Thompson for Indiana's Domantas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday and a 2023 second-round pick.
It's unclear if those players will be ready to play for the encore between the Wolves and Sacramento on Wednesday.
The starters let the Kings hang around until the bench finally put the distance on the scoreboard starting in the third when Beasley hit threes on three consecutive possessions followed by one from McLaughlin. The Wolves pushed their lead to 16 and cruised from there.
Taurean Prince pitched in with 11. Naz Reid had 12, including two thunderous dunks. That helped make up for a 2 of 12 night from Anthony Edwards (five points). Karl-Anthony Towns was one of only two starters in double figures with 25 points and nine rebounds.
"We're building a team of accountability," Towns said. "And as starters we got to hold ourselves accountable because the bench is winning the games for us right now."
That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially for a Wolves team that has long struggled.
Two seasons ago the Wolves were in Sacramento before the trade deadline and Towns seemed dejected as he discussed the impending trade of his friend Robert Covington. Two years later, the Wolves have won five straight. An elated Towns exited his interview session by saying, "Isn't winning basketball great?"
One of the pieces the Wolves got back for trading Covington, Beasley, has been a big part of the bench success of late. Beasley has looked like the player he was a season ago when he made 40% of his three-point looks, and he and McLaughlin have been dealing of late. Beasley is 25-for-47 (53%) from three-point range the last six games.
"I play really well with Jordan since I've gotten here," Beasley said. "He's a great player, he knows what he's doing, his IQ is really high and it sets me up really well. If I don't have the shot, he won't pass. If I do, he'll set me up right in the pocket."
Beasley is now one of the Wolves whose name has come up in multiple trade rumors of late with the deadline looming Thursday.
"I don't pay attention to that at all," Beasley said. "This is my sixth year in the league, and I've been traded before. The only thing you can do is control what you can control. … I'd rather be here, but it's a business, so you can never know what can happen."
Who knows how much of this bench success is deadline-driven, with players wanting to earn their minutes before a potential shakeup on the back end of the roster. The unit could turn to a pumpkin after the 2 p.m. deadline on Thursday, but for now, the wins keep coming.
"We're on a big roll," McLaughlin said.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points and was an assist away from a triple-double, Damian Lillard added 25 and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks 110-102 on Saturday to earn a spot in the NBA Cup championship game.
