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.”