The Timberwolves preached ball and body movement all week in preparation for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Lakers on Saturday.

Yet none of either was evident over the first six minutes of basketball. The offense struggled mightily out of the gates, as Minnesota scored just seven points over the first seven minutes of action.

The stagnancy needed to stop. Luckily for the Wolves, their pacemakers entered the contest. Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid stepped onto the floor, and the game immediately started to shift. Decisions and actions were quicker.

The Lakers have long, savvy defenders. But they aren’t the most athletic. So if you can move them, you can find creases. Such was the case after the slow start. Whether it be through transition or half-court execution, the Wolves put Los Angeles on its heels nearly every trip down the floor.

Seemingly every possession ended in a good look for the Wolves, who buried a large portion of them.

“Ball movement and body movement. I think they go hand in hand,” DiVincenzo said. “One, when you get stops, you get out in transition, you can get some easy shots. And then also, when the ball is popping around, bodies are cutting, it’s contagious. So getting downhill, screening the ball, finding your shooters and taking shots that are easy to take and make.”

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted it was when Minnesota settled into its offensive gameplan and upped its pace and decision making that “things started to come together.”

“Of course, our bench was huge,” Finch added. “Outstanding job by those guys really coming in and giving us a jolt at the right time.”

That’s what they’ve done all season. Finch coined the phrase that Minnesota has “eight starters.” DiVincenzo, Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker would start on the majority of NBA teams.

“Spoiled for choice there,” Finch said. “When we go to our bench, they’ve often given us this lift.”

To the degree that Reid led Minnesota in net rating this season, with the Wolves out-scoring opponents by 7.4 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. Alexander-Walker was third in that category among Minnesota’s top eight players, and DiVincenzo was fifth.

Eight of Minnesota’s top nine two-man pairings in net rating feature at least one of its key reserves.  Three of Minnesota’s top four five-man lineups this season feature all three reserves.

They’re talented players. The Lakers may have two of the three best players in this series. Minnesota certainly has the best top eight.

Prior to Game 1, Lakers coach J.J. Redick noted the countless examples in recent history of “role players” that have swung playoff games, series and even title runs.

Minnesota has three guys coming off the bench that can do just that.

Reid scored 23 points on the strength of six triples on Saturday. Finch noted the forward “got us some easy buckets when we couldn’t find anything else.”

“His activity, he’s such a quick decision maker for us. Got to the hoop, shot the ball well,” Finch added. “We did a good job of finding him.”

The stat lines for DiVincenzo and Alexander-Walker weren’t as sexy, but the coach highlighted their gritty players and defensive efforts Minnesota has come to expect from the wings.

“Those guys give you everything they got. They are glue guys, they make shots, they can have big nights, they create flow and rhythm for their teammates,” Finch said. “And they guard and they like to guard. They’re really fun players to coach.”

Perhaps most importantly, all three reserves play offense with the pace and movement Finch yearns to see on that end of the floor.

“I don’t dislike the brand of basketball the starters play, it’s just different,” Finch said. “That’s one thing that I think is a strength of ours. We can play different styles, we can go to different lineups, we can change the complexion of the game. But we focused on trying to play faster from about December on. Those guys were really the key and catalyst for it.”

The value of Minnesota’s depth extends far beyond minute management and energy conservation. Those three are often the lifeblood for the brand of basketball the Timberwolves want to play.

They need to be. It’s not that the starters are incapable of playing with pace and execution. They also did so over the final three quarters of action Saturday. The starters blitzed the Lakers to open the third quarter with an 11-0 run.

But, frankly, it’s difficult to come out of the gates every game with instant rhythm and flow. Mike Conley said “it’s great” to have DiVincenzo, Reid and Alexander-Walker come in and change the terms under which the game is played.

“It’s kind of like what that unit is known for a little bit,” Conley said. “They come in and they have a different pace, but I think it kind of jumpstarts our team once we start mixing in lineups a little bit, got a couple starters in there with a couple off the bench and everybody kind of maintains that level of play. Hats off to (the reserves in Game 1), they were the reason we kind of turned this game around.”

Related Articles

The Timberwolves had one of best shooting performances of the season Saturday. How will the Lakers react in Game 2?

Pack of rabid Timberwolves harass Lakers en route to Game 1 rout

Timberwolves playoffs: From contracts to reputation, what’s at stake

5 things the Timberwolves must do to upset the Lakers, plus a prediction

Can Anthony Edwards out-think the Lakers? Timberwolves’ playoff hopes depend on it

ATLANTA — Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin hit two-run homers, Grant Holmes allowed only one run and the Atlanta Braves beat the Minnesota Twins 6-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Marcell Ozuna also homered off Joe Ryan (1-3), who allowed six runs and eight hits and a walk in five innings.

Byron Buxton had two hits, including a home run off right-hander Enyel De Los Santos, for Minnesota, which fell to 7-15 this season. The Braves had not won back-to-back games before sweeping the Twins.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Alex Verdugo (8) and second baseman Ozzie Albies (1) celebrate their win against the Minnesota Twins following a baseball game Saturday, April 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John David Mercer)

Atlanta’s first winning streak of the season came in Alex Verdugo’s first three starts as Atlanta’s left fielder and leadoff hitter. Verdugo had four hits, including two doubles, and drove in the go-ahead run in Saturday night’s 4-3 win and had one hit on Sunday.

Holmes (2-1) pitched 5⅔ innings and allowed four hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.

Key moment

The Braves jumped on Ryan in the first inning. Ozuna walked with two outs before Olson hit his third homer off the top of the wall in center field. Baldwin hit his two-run shot in the third.

Key stat

The Braves’ first five runs were scored with two outs.

Up next

The Twins are off on Monday and open a home series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night. Manager Rocco Baldelli left open the possibility that right-hander Pablo López, on injured reserve with a strained right hamstring, could join the rotation this week following his “solid outing” for Triple-A St. Paul on Saturday. “We will sit down and assess what the rotation looks like this week,” Baldelli said before the game.

Related Articles

Alex Verdugo goes 4 for 4 as Braves beat Twins, 4-3

Finally: Twins put together complete game to beat Tigers, end losing skid

Bullpen gives up six runs as Twins fall to Tigers

Twins Report: Vazquez takes responsibility for manager’s ejection Monday

Twins center fielder Byron Buxton off and running

LAS VEGAS — For all of the attention that individual talent garners in hockey, the fact that statistically a goal and an assist are both worth one point illustrates the value of teamwork among the six players on the ice at any given time.

On Saturday, following their final full practice before the playoffs began Sunday night in Las Vegas, a few members of the Minnesota Wild joked that there was no gold watch given to center Joel Eriksson Ek for helping them get there.

It’s true that without Eriksson Ek’s goal in the final seconds of regulation in their regular-season finale against Anaheim last week, the Wild would have missed the playoffs. But in a game where teamwork trumps all else, even the goal-scorer passed it off as just another shift.

“It looked like that, but it’s an 82-game season … that came down to one or two points,” Eriksson Ek said following the Wild’s practice at City National Arena in the Las Vegas suburbs.

Big player, big plays

Still, for those who have watched Eriksson Ek’s game since the Wild grabbed him 20th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, that final regular-season goal he scored was a vintage example of going to the net-front with his 6-foot-3 frame and not leaving until he saw the red light flash.

For Wild fans, it was a reminder of all that was missing for most of March, when Eriksson Ek and high-scoring winger Kirill Kaprizov worked their way back from injuries that cost them huge chunks of their respective seasons.

When Eriksson Ek goes to the front of the net in the defensive zone, he makes it a challenge for opponents to cause havoc for the Minnesota goalies. And when Eriksson Ek goes to the front of the net in the offensive zone, he is the havoc.

“We have to win battles at the net and most of the goals are scored there,” he said, reaffirming that the net-front game is an emphasis versus the Golden Knights in Round 1. “So, for us, to be real solid in front of our own net and the offensive zone, we really need to be jumping on loose pucks.”

The size and presence in front of the net were certainly factors a decade ago when the previous Wild hockey operations regime grabbed Eriksson Ek from Farjestad in his native Sweden. He made his NHL debut in the 2016-17 season and has rarely worn anything but red and green since. A notable exception came in February, when Eriksson Ek — along with Wild teammates Filip Gustavsson and Jonas Brodin — skated for Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Long road back

Sporting blue and gold and the distinctive three crowns of his homeland, Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist in the three games he played there.

He played in an overtime win in Detroit upon returning from the tournament, recording an assist, but all was not right with Eriksson Ek’s body, and he was shut down a short time later due to what Hynes called a “usage injury” and missed the next 21 games.

With both Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov out of the lineup, the Wild held their own in March, just barely staying above the cut-off line for the playoffs. In the meantime, the Wild’s two most important offensive players were leaning on each other to find a way back onto the line chart.

“When guys like that go down, it’s hard,” said Wild forward Matt Boldy, who has spent plenty of time on Eriksson Ek’s wing. “He does everything for us — power play, penalty kill, five-on-five, D-zone faceoffs, everything. (He’s) kind of a guy that you know what you’re going to get every night. It’s good, hard, strong hockey, and to have him back is huge. When you play with him, he makes it pretty easy.”

Asked if he picked up any new hobbies during the down time, Erikssson Ek had a smile.

“Nothing really new. … You rehab, you work out, you go back in the afternoon, you watch the games. Just a lot of hockey and a lot of time at the rink,” he said, expressing thanks for having Kaprizov with him in the recovery journey. “I think it was pretty nice for both of us having each other to lean on, just to kind of be in it together there and doing the work together. Doing all the stuff together for sure made it easier.”

The pair returned for a April 9 home game with San Jose, and while nothing came easily defensively, Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov offered a stark reminder of the difference they can make when healthy. Eriksson Ek scored four of the team’s seven regulation goals, while Kaprizov had one in regulation and the overtime winner in a vital 8-7 victory over San Jose.

Shooting and smiling

All of it was done with a smile that sometimes masks the mean streak needed to play a net-front game, which is called one of hockey’s “dirty areas” for a reason. Eriksson Ek is always a nice guy off the ice, but that can be deceiving.

‘I wouldn’t call him that nice,” said Boldy, who played against Eriksson Ek in the 4 Nations tournament. “He’s a special player with the stuff he does, but when you start playing with other guys and they ask about him, you say how great he is, but everyone’s first (comment) is they hate him. … He’s definitely a menace, and that blue paint is where he likes to be.”

Vegas doesn’t take many penalties, so power plays are likely to be rare in this series. Those rare opportunities are when Hynes expects Eriksson Ek’s size and skill to be most vital, adding that his intensity is what sets him apart from other forwards his size.

When the red light turns on, with Eriksson Ek standing in the opposing goalie’s face, fans see the smile that is so common a part of off-ice life for Joel Eriksson Ek.

“He’s a highly competitive guy. I think he takes pride in being the player he is. He’s a very intense competitor, he knows how to play and is willing to play in the hard areas of the ice,” Hynes said. “He takes pride in the power play not just at the net-front, but puck retrievals and allowing second and third opportunities on the power play.”

Related Articles

Better health means tough decisions about Wild playoff roster

Zeev Buium will make NHL debut in Wild playoff opener

Talented, confident Knights looking for hunger versus Wild

With health comes confidence as Wild head to Vegas

Buium seems to be inching closer to his NHL debut

LAS VEGAS — In a season where injuries have been so much a part of the storyline for the Minnesota Wild, the run-up to the playoffs has been about additions to, rather than subtractions from, the roster.

Two rare exceptions to the non-stop injury parade have been defensemen Jon Merrill and Declan Chisholm; each has been a healthy scratch this season, but between them they have missed just four games, total, due to injury.

But with Jake Middleton healthy again, and Zeev Buium becoming the first player in Wild franchise history to make his NHL debut in a playoff game, that means both Merrill and Chisholm were set to spectators on Sunday night. Their said such decisions aren’t easy, especially when players who have been good soldiers all year need to come out of the lineup.

“Those guys have battled for you all year long, and obviously they’re not happy about it. But they’re good team guys,” John Hynes said. “They’ll do what’s right for the team, and I think they all know that you get in these series, and most playoff series or playoff runs, you need eight to nine defensemen, usually, to be able to impact your team.”

Having gone through 82 games where the Wild roster looked different most nights, and heading into a postseason where injuries — especially on defense — are a normal part of the picture, Hynes is fully aware that a healthy scratch for Game 1 could be a vital part of the roster later in the series.

“They’re not happy about it, which I get — and I’m good with,” Hynes said. “But we had a good conversation and I told them where I was coming from, and they told me where they were coming from, and you walk out of that room and you’re all in it together about what’s best for the team.”

Another Wild forward, Devin Shore, played 55 regular season games on the team’s fourth line, with a goal and four assists before being sent to the AHL when Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek got healthy. While he was not in the Game 1 lineup, the Wild recalled Shore from Iowa on Sunday and Hynes said he, too, could be an important depth player as the series rolls on.

“He gives us good center depth, which is one of the reasons he was with us throughout the year,” Hynes said. “On top of him being a really good player, I think he’s a great teammate, fits in really well with our group, plays a really responsible game and he provides center depth if we need it after this game.”

Time off

March was a grind for the Wild, as they played without key players, saw their once-secure playoff prospects become more challenging. Because of the condensed schedule following the 4 Nations Face-Off break in February, they played a game almost every other night.

That is in sharp contrast to the run-up to Game 1, which gave Minnesota four full days, and most of Easter Sunday, before facing Vegas. And while they were itching to play by the time Sunday’s playoff opener started, most players were fine with a bit of a break.

“It’s a little different, that’s for sure, but there are a lot of things to dive into with meetings and things, so it’s nice to have that extra time for sure,” Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said.

Hynes said there needs to be a balance between rested and rusty, but overall he was happy the team could take a breather before the noise and intensity of facing the Golden Knights on the road.

“We were grinding there for a while and I think it was … nice to have a day off for them to relax and refocus, and then you have a couple practice days,” Hynes said, noting that his team arrived in Nevada on Friday rather than the day before the game, which is normal in the regular season. “We were able to come out here early and practice and get set up and be around each other and then (get) time to clearly shift the focus from getting here to Vegas and what we need to do now.”

This is the 14th time since the Wild entered the NHL in 2000 that the franchise has qualified for the playoffs.

Related Articles

Zeev Buium will make NHL debut in Wild playoff opener

Talented, confident Knights looking for hunger versus Wild

With health comes confidence as Wild head to Vegas

Buium seems to be inching closer to his NHL debut

Wild bring pre-loaded playoff mettle to Vegas