All season, Bones Hyland played a huge role for the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was beyond nearly everyone’s expectations, as he re-signed on a minimum deal late in the offseason. The 25-year-old quickly leaped over Rob Dillingham in the rotation and helped a bench that often struggled to produce to begin the year outside of Naz Reid.
It took just one playoff game, though, for Chris Finch to show his undying affinity for Mike Conley, playing him more than Bones. This is despite Conley being out of the rotation much of the time after he was re-added to the club (other than the end of the season, when he played because of injuries to Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels).
It shouldn’t surprise anyone if Hyland doesn’t play in Game 2 on Monday night as Minnesota looks to avoid a 0-2 hole against the Denver Nuggets.
Bones didn’t play in the second half in the Game 1 loss
Hyland’s Game 1 performance wasn’t all that good. He missed all three of his shot attempts, and he was taken out with 8:42 left in the second quarter. Bones would not re-enter the game at any point for the rest of the contest, finishing with just 5:20 of game action.
It was somewhat surprising to see Chris Finch utilize five guys off the bench, with all of them being used in the first quarter. For the last two years, Finch has mostly gone with an eight-man rotation in the playoffs.
If he wants to cut the rotation back down after one loss, looking at Game 1, Hyland may be his choice. Bones played the least amount of time amongst the five reserves that played with Kyle Anderson playing the second-least at a little more than seven minutes. If Finch is going to continue to play Conley, that’s already a backup point guard receiving minutes. It’s hard to play two smaller guards off the bench in a postseason setting.
Still, Hyland's regular season production should be enough to earn him a spot in the Wolves' playoff rotation, especially given the Wolves' lack of bench scoring.
It’s a bit of a revenge series for Hyland, as the Denver Nuggets drafted him in the first-round (26th overall) in 2021, and then traded him away in the midst of his second year.
Bones has played more than 18 minutes per contest since January 1, often reaching double figures in scoring. It’s a shame that one five-minute stint may have taken him out of the rotation since he’s been vital to their bench success, but it might be exactly what has happened.
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