Donte DiVincenzo grabbed a defensive rebound under the hoop off a Max Christie air ball, took a couple hard dribbles to the side of the floor and heaved the ball forward into the front court, dropping his pass over Christie’s out-stretched arms and into the lap of Julius Randle.

The result was an easy flush for Randle that extended Minnesota’s lead to 12 in the second quarter of the Wolves’ win over the Lakers on Monday at Target Center.

As Randle was putting away the score, Wolves head coach Chris Finch looked back and pointed at DiVincenzo, his way of saying, “Thank you.”

Minnesota scored 20 fastbreak points Monday, marking just the fourth time all season it’s hit such a total. Nine of those points came off DiVincenzo dimes.

“He did a really good job of igniting our break,” Finch said. “We’ve been emphasizing trying to kick ahead more, throw the pass wide, change the angle of the floor, all that. He did a really good job of getting off of it, he and Nickeil (Alexander-Walker) connected on a couple. His decision making was really good tonight, getting off of it quick and finding the open guy and moving it.”

DiVincenzo noted there’s a distinct trust factor in basketball, and it’s prevalent in a number of areas within the game. If you want your teammates to consistently do something, they need to believe you’ll hold up your end of the bargain. If the Wolves want Rudy Gobert to block a shot, they need to be checking the man he is leaving on the defensive glass. If you want your teammates to run the floor hard in transition, you had better be willing to kick the ball ahead.

“That’s what we did tonight, everybody,” DiVincenzo said. “And when we do that, it deflates the other team.”

Minnesota has infrequently been difficult to play against this season. A piece of that equation is the Wolves often leave the easy money on the table. Fastbreak points sit atop that list. According to CleaningTheGlass.com, only 13.1 percent of Minnesota’s offensive possessions are played in transition. That’s dead last in the NBA, even after Monday’s performance.

Transition was a weak point of last year’s team, as well, but the additions of Julius Randle and DiVincenzo were supposed to infuse some pace. But old habits die hard. The Wolves have rarely looked for opportunities to get out and run. They often don’t seem interested in the idea. It requires effort and intention. So, it’s a difficult switch to flip after it spent much of last year in the “off” position.

“Just knowing you’ve got to run the floor at all times,” Wolves wing Jaden McDaniels said. “Even when you’re tired, or if the game is not going your way, just to get easy points and run the floor for your teammates.”

Randle agreed that sometimes he’ll dribble up the floor and no one will be running alongside him, but added there are things he should do differently, as well.

“I might get the rebound and I’m probing instead of just pushing and throwing the ball ahead and looking to flatten the defense out that way,” he said. “Or you’re probing instead of punching the gaps, or whatever it is, and you’re letting the defense catch up, so it’s just little things like that.”

Minnesota’s best transition groups figure to be those that don’t include Rudy Gobert. But those lineups have been hindered by an inability to grab defensive rebounds. That has to be priority No. 1 in any instance; but once that’s secured, there needs to be more urgency to go.

As Monday showed, transition offense can be a major feather in the cap of a team that sometimes struggles to score with consistency.

For instance, in the first quarter, the Wolves scored just 22 points, but six came in transition. The positive sign for Minnesota is that when the issue was emphasized, players like DiVincenzo made a point to answer the call.

“I think playing fast, making quick decisions, letting us use our athleticism and our quick decisions (helps),” DiVincenzo said. “I think when you slow down sometimes, guys kind of get out of rhythm. Playing fast, getting the early transition opportunities, gets everybody going, and then we can play both types of games.”