In Warriors’ easy win over Timberwolves, Jonathan Kuminga is a bright spot

These days, the sight of anything Timberwolves seems to add a few inches to Andrew Wiggins’ vertical. In the opening eight seconds of an early Sunday afternoon game in Minneapolis, Wiggins went from blowing on his hands at the half-court logo to crushing in a left-handed alley-oop over Rudy Gobert, one of the game’s greatest shot blockers.

Here’s the tone-setting sequence. Watch Wiggins at the top of the logo when the clip begins. He’s strolling into the proceedings, warming himself up. Then there’s a Karl-Anthony Towns bump, serving as a jolt. Suddenly, Wiggins is careening down the runway for a dunk.

Those were the first two of 47 first-quarter points from the Warriors. They had 76 at halftime and 137 when the 137-114 win was all over. The Timberwolves have their issues. They’re 5-6 at home, scoring below a league-average rate and still in the early stages of a Gobert-centered overhaul that has sprouted rotational and chemistry challenges.

But the list of the Warriors’ best wins this season is slim. Limit it to the road and it’s microscopic. Away from Chase Center, they entered 1-9, the league’s worst road record. That lone victory was an escape in Houston, when they needed 74 points and 17 combined 3s from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to slip past the lottery Rockets.

They didn’t need an extraordinary Curry performance against the Timberwolves. He had 25 points on 7-of-17 shooting. Thompson made five 3s. Wiggins scored 15 more pretty efficiently after that game-opening dunk. Draymond Green had 19 points and 11 assists. The starting lineup — those four and Kevon Looney — outscored Minnesota by 16 points in 18 minutes, stretching their cumulative plus-minus to plus-141 for the season. No other five-man combination in the NBA is better than plus-66. They’ve been dominant.

But that wasn’t the story. Despite having the league’s best lineup, the Warriors have barely scratched their way above .500 because the bench has been in such flux, sending Steve Kerr on a 20-game search for rotational answers. In the past few games, it seems he’s finally found a stable 10-man group. Against the Timberwolves, that all coalesced into their most complete win of the season.

Jordan Poole scored 24 points in 27 productive bench minutes. Kerr has tied more of Poole’s court time to Green, and that’s freed him up to be more of a scorer than a facilitator. He attacked Minnesota, getting up 17 shots, tied for a game high. Poole’s early-season slump has been defined by its hesitancy — perimeter dancing while he ponders his next move.

That wasn’t a problem Sunday. Poole was decisive. Just watch him here on a catch-and-go drive around a slow Anthony Edwards to close out directly through Gobert’s chest.

Poole is often joined in the backcourt by Donte DiVincenzo. DiVincenzo injured his hamstring during the season’s third game, missed that entire 0-5 trip and has eased his way back into the rotation quietly. He may be…