Sacramento made a major trade prior to Tuesday’s game against Minnesota. The Kings traded three players — including two of their top guards in Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield — to Indiana for Domantas Sabonis and a host of other players.
The deal might help the Kings be better moving forward in the season, but it left them severely short-handed Tuesday in Sacramento.
And you do not want to be short-handed against the Timberwolves right now — especially not with the way Minnesota’s second unit is thriving. The bulldozer that is Minnesota’s bench trucked Sacramento en route to a 134-114 Wolves victory — Minnesota’s fifth consecutive victory.
Minnesota’s starters frankly weren’t all that impressive for much of the night. D’Angelo Russell, Patrick Beverley and Anthony Edwards all finished with more shot attempts than points — a glaring indication of inefficiency. And Minnesota didn’t express much interest in defending for the first two-plus quarters.
But the second unit showed up in the third quarter and decided to give the competition an early ending. McLaughlin entered with four minutes to play in the third frame and Minnesota (29-25) up eight. He didn’t exit the floor until the Wolves were up 18 points midway through the fourth.
He continues to conduct the symphony that is the second unit. McLaughlin put forth what may have been his best performance of his recent resurgence Tuesday, tallying a double-double with 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting and 11 assists to go with five rebounds. Minnesota outscored the Kings (20-36) by 18 points when the reserve guard was on the floor.
He set the table for the 3-point shooting explosion from the likes of Naz Reid, Malik Beasley and Taurean Prince.
Beasley continued his flame-throwing ways by going a nuclear 6 for 7 from 3-point range. Prince buried three triples and Reid went 2 for 3 from downtown. Minnesota’s bench outscored its starters 72-62. The reserves shot 56 percent from the field and 67 percent from 3-point range.
On Sunday, Beasley said the reserves feel like starters. They’ve been outperforming Minnesota’s starting unit for quite some time now, and the entire team is better for it.