In a departure from their stated credence, the Timberwolves rested a player for Wednesday’s game in Boston.

Thirty-six-year-old point guard Mike Conley missed the game between the teams with the NBA’s best records with a “rest” designation on the injury report.

Rudy Gobert also missed the game with hip soreness.

Rest-related absences have been about as common as Halley’s Comet during the Chris Finch era in Minnesota. But Wednesday came with special circumstances.

Not only did the Timberwolves play the night before in Orlando, but because of weather conditions they were unable to fly into Boston directly after the game against the Magic.

So the Timberwolves stayed in Florida and flew out to Boston on Wednesday. Timberwolves radio play-by-play man Alan Horton said the team arrived in Boston six hours prior to its scheduled tipoff against the Celtics.

That’s less than ideal for anyone’s body, let alone a veteran such as Conley. Particularly after Conley and every starter other than Anthony Edwards played more than 30 minutes in the 113-92 win over the Magic. It appeared Conley might have exited the blowout win for good in the third quarter after just 22 minutes played, but a rough stretch of basketball without the floor general caused Finch to re-insert Conley into the game.

But none of that made Wednesday’s announcement less surprising. Conley is the ultimate competitor. He salivates over chances to do battle with the NBA’s best.

Finch noted a few weeks back that Conley gets “annoyed” when the coach asks the guard how he is feeling. Conley told Finch he plays “better” on the second night of back-to-backs.

“I just trust him. He takes care of his body,” Finch said then. “We look out for him in the right ways.”

Minnesota plays its top players more than perhaps any team in the NBA. If you’re healthy, you play. The Timberwolves believe in that approach.

“We’ve always set out to be a (team where) we’re gonna play. That’s our mindset. Our guys want to play. We want to play. We’re not a rest team. I think that’s at 30,000 feet,” Finch said earlier this season. “There’s going to be points in the season where you’ve got to play these types of games. If you’re always resting guys, then you don’t have the resiliency to go battle through that, so I think it’s important.”

But Conley, who is one of the most valuable pieces on this highly successful team, sitting the occasional game is something fans on social media platforms have clamored for in recent weeks. Wednesday marks the first game Conley has missed since he was traded to Minnesota.