The string of strong showings from the Nuggets’ bench ended on Tuesday in Minnesota and so did Denver’s five-game winning streak.

In a 130-115 win, the Timberwolves bench outscored Denver’s 39-7 in the first half. Minnesota’s reserves outscored Denver’s 68-49 for the game with Nuggets coach Michael Malone resting his starters for the entire fourth quarter with the game out of reach.

“We’ve got to be better on defense,” Nuggets reserve forward Zeke Nnaji said, mentioning the need for better game-plan discipline and rotations before moving onto the offense.

“I feel like at times we were stagnant. We got to get more movement involved and get the ball worked around and create more looks for people.”

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Starting center Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Taurean Prince led Minnesota’s reserves with 23 points, while former Nugget Malik Beasley and Naz Reid added 12 apiece off the bench. Jared Vanderbilt, another former Denver draft pick, scored 18 points and grabbed five of his nine rebounds on the offensive end.

Prince made 6 of his 9 3-pointers, and Beasley finished 4 for 9 from deep.

“Those guys, obviously, should not be getting that many open looks when they’re shooting that efficiently,” Malone said.

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Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 21 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists despite not playing the fourth quarter. He was also responsible for five of Denver’s 12 turnovers, though committed all of his giveaways in the first half. He said defenders read his pass a few times, a couple were just bad passes while a miss communication with new teammate Bryn Forbes was the source of another turnover.

“I need to do a better job just as our leader or whatever I am. I cannot have, every night, the most turnovers. Hopefully, I will do a better job with that,” Jokic said.

“I’m just trying to play the game the right way.”

Monte Morris (13), Will Barton III (13) and Jeff Green (12) gave the Nuggets three other starters in double figures. JaMychal Green led Denver’s bench with 12 points, while Davon Reed added 10 points in the final nine minutes of the game. DeMarcus Cousins, who has served as Denver’s backup center did not play with a foot injury.

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The Nuggets led by two when Jokic checked out for the first time with a minute left in the opening quarter.

“The first quarter we were ok,” Malone said.

“The game was lost in that second quarter. … Their bench dominated our bench in that first half.”

Minnesota led by two to start the second and extended the lead to 13 before Jokic returned for the final seven-plus minutes of the first half. The Timberwolves would lead by as many as 24 and had a 69-51 advantage at halftime.

“They got whatever they wanted,” Malone said. “We couldn’t score to save our lives in that quarter, and we couldn’t get any stops.”

Minnesota’s lead grew to 28 in the third quarter, and the Timberwolves led by 22 to start the fourth. The deficit grew to 30 against Denver’s reserves with the starters sitting the entire fourth quarter. The loss dropped Denver to 28-22, good for sixth in the Western Conference.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing, I don’t know. Lately, we were playing good. Today was a bad game for us,” Jokic said. “They outplayed us. They were really good collectively, the bench and the first unit. They did a really good job. I think we are in a good spot. I hope we can be even better.”

A quick trip to Utah for Wednesday’s game will serve as a chance for the Nuggets to finish a six-game road trip with a 5-1 record.

“We’ve been playing really good basketball. It’s been a really long road trip. We’ve been gone for a long time,” Malone said. “This is the NBA. Stuff like that happens.”