MINNEAPOLIS -- When starters Al Horford and Jae Crowder were forced to miss a combined 17 games, the Boston Celtics depth was tested but also given the opportunity to make an impact.

Horford and Crowder have returned, and the deeper bench helped Boston pull away against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.

Isaiah Thomas had 29 points -- including 20 in the second half -- to help the Celtics come from behind on the road and beat Minnesota 99-93. Al Horford had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in his second game back from a concussion for Boston (8-6), which has won three of its past four contests.

Terry Rozier added 12 points off the bench for the Celtics. Boston's reserves outscored the entire Timberwolves team 16-12 in the fourth quarter. The Celtics bench outscored Minnesota's bench 31-14 for the game.

"When we get in, we got to either pick up where the first team left off or we got to even play harder than that," Rozier said. "We had a team meeting not too long ago and that's one of the things we said. When we got in there, we just play hard. A lot of credit goes to Al, too, working hard. Just a lot of things, everything worked in our favor once we played hard."

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 18 rebounds for Minnesota (4-9), which has lost three of four. Andrew Wiggins finished with 14 points in an off-shooting night where he went 5 of 18 from the field. The league's top 3-point shooter was 0 of 5 from beyond the arc.

"I don't know how to call it, but we just need to do a better job," said Timberwolves forward Gorgui Dieng, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds. "Right now, we could be winning more games than we do right now. So, just need to do a better job, especially when we got a lead."

The Celtics are starting to find their way, and doing so right as they are getting healthier. Horford had played just four games after being the team's top acquisition in free agency. Jae Crowder missed eight games because of an ankle sprain. The team was 3-5 without Horford and Crowder.

"We've been locked in as a unit," Crowder said. "It's the first time we've had pretty much everybody here together. We're just trying to build momentum and this is two good signs for us back-to-back wins."

Crowder had four points and five rebounds on Monday, but his defense on Wiggins was crucial. Wiggins entered the night 10th in the league in scoring at 25.7 points per game. Crowder didn't play in the fourth quarter.

"It was alright in the first half," Crowder said. "The second half, I didn't have an ankle. I pulled myself. I couldn't go anymore, but I'll be fine."

The Timberwolves were also the league's leading team in 3-point accuracy, but shot just 4 of 24 on Monday.

"This is a hard team for us to play against; I think it's a hard team for a lot of people to play against, obviously," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "These guys are big and strong, and long, and talented. Again, I thought we got a little fortunate with some missed shots. But we did battle and had enough in the tank to win at the end."

Minnesota controlled the paint in building a 15-point lead in the third quarter. At one point, the Timberwolves were outrebounding Boston 41-24 and outscored the Celtics 50-24 in the paint.

The third quarter, which had become the weak point all year, even went Minnesota's way. The Timberwolves, with the worst point-differential in the NBA in the third quarter, extended their halftime lead by outscoring Boston by three points. Minnesota shot 58.8 percent from the field in the quarter.

But Horford hit a jump shot as time expired to end the third. The shot started a 19-0 Celtics' run as they took a four-point lead.

"Well, the fourth quarter's different, actually the fourth quarter we played fairly well in all year," Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau said. "But we have to understand that the intensity of your decision-making is very important."

NOTES: Minnesota G/F Brandon Rush was available to play after missing seven games because of a sprained right big toe. Rush averaged 15.2 minutes per game and 2.8 points per game in the first five contests of the season. ... The Timberwolves had given up 98.3 points per game in their previous four contests after giving up 114.3 points per game in their first eight games. ... Celtics PG Isaiah Thomas entered the game averaging 8.6 points in the fourth quarter, second only to Russell Westbrook (9.8) in the NBA. Thomas was ninth in the NBA in scoring coming in, averaging 26.2 points per game and he had tallied 20-plus points in 12 of 13 games.