In the final minutes of an elimination game, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch pulled $30 million point guard D'Angelo Russell and substituted $2 million point guard Jordan McLaughlin.
Finch had said all series the playoffs can expose more than the regular season what a team does well and what it doesn't, what weaknesses a player has and what his strengths are.
Russell struggled all series. He averaged 12 points and shot just 33%.
He had seven points and four turnovers in series-closing Game 6 and with the season on the line, when all pretense of playing someone because they have a big salary goes out the window, Finch made the decision to bench Russell in crunch time for McLaughlin, who had been facilitating the offense better the second half of the series.