NEW ORLEANS – Chris Finch wasn’t too thrilled with his new starting lineup and how it came out in the third quarter Tuesday night.

After the Timberwolves were tied with the New Orleans Pelicans at halftime, the Wolves allowed three offensive rebounds and committed three turnovers in a 7-0 Pelicans run. Timeout Wolves. They hadn’t even attempted a shot in the quarter.

“We needed to wake up,” Finch said. “Get back in the game. We have to expect more of ourselves sometimes in those moments.”

Even from the top of the lower section looking down on the Wolves bench, his anger was palpable. But after that moment, the revamped starting lineup turned it around and took control of a game that eventually became a 104-97 Wolves win, their second victory on consecutive nights.

“I love to see it,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “I think that’s sometimes what we need. Forget all the X’s and O’s, slam the clipboard, do whatever you need to do, just get into us a little bit, because our guys feed off that. We feed off energy, talking to one another getting into it and going from there.”

Asked about that moment, center Rudy Gobert said with a grin: “He’s a pretty emotional guy. … He has passion.”

After that timeout, the Wolves turned a 64-57 deficit into a 75-66 lead, and they never relinquished it the rest of the evening. DiVincenzo got rolling in place of Mike Conley with seven of his 10 points. He added seven assists. Anthony Edwards, who had a game-high 32 points, also had seven during the third. The starters also opened the night with a 23-10 lead, but lost that after most of the team went cold outside of Edwards and Julius Randle (16 points).

But Tuesday’s win had a bit of a twist — Finch turned to his original starters in the closing minutes. Conley replaced DiVincenzo, and the Wolves piled up stops down the stretch to keep the worst team in the Western Conference from pulling the upset, even as its best player, Zion Williamson, played for the first time since Nov. 6. Williamson had 22 points.