The Minnesota Timberwolves entered Monday night's contest in Chicago against the Bulls in a tough spot, losing an emotional Christmas Day matchup against the Denver Nuggets and failing to bounce back in their next contest with a loss to the Brooklyn Nets. For a season that's been rather rocky for the Timberwolves, defeating the Bulls seemed like a must.

While two unfortunate injuries to Coby White and Josh Giddey did play in Minnesota's favor, they took care of the Bulls handedly 136-101, a team that had won five in a row before their loss against the Milwaukee Bucks in the prior contest. The Timberwolves succeeded in doing a lot of the little things right, but got a big boost from one of their top offensive players.

In a season-high performance, Naz Reid poured in 33 points on 11-of-18 shooting, adding seven rebounds and three assists along with. It was a rough start to the season for Reid — who received an $125 million extension this past offseason — as he averaged just 10 points and six rebounds through his first five games.

He's started to turn it around as of late, being that top offensive option for the Timberwolves off their bench.

"He was a benefit of great ball movement," Chris Finch said. "He took advantage of some matchups early on. I thought he was super smart and composed in the post when he had that situation down there, and you know, got a couple ones to fall. This ball movement was great, and he really benefits from that."

Reid went undrafted in 2019, signing a two-way contract with the Timberwolves before being converted to a four-year, $6.12 million deal shortly thereafter. While he could've very well departed this offseason for a bigger role, similar to his teammate Nickeil Alexander-Walker, he opted to stay in Minnesota and continue to play his role for a top team.

Reid should be in line to take over at the starting center position whenever Rudy Gobert's time in Minnesota is up, but for now, he provides the perfect contrast next to him as an offensive-minded center who can give this Minnesota bench some much-needed boost.

Reid and the Timberwolves will look to ride this momentum into the next three contests of their four-game road trip, starting with the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday afternoon. If the Timberwolves can continue to execute the little things and Reid can be that Sixth Man of the Year caliber bench player, this Timberwolves team should trend upwards quickly.