The Minnesota Timberwolves went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter last night, extending their lead to 82-72 after it was tied up at the end of the third. Coach Quin Snyder called a timeout, except — rather than rail against his team’s lack of effort — he didn’t say a word to his players before they again took the court. The tactic worked.

As Andy Larsen of Salt City Hoops describes, Quin’s wordless anger was enough to get stoke his players when they returned to the court. They went on an 8-2 run when they returned and finished the game on a 16-2 run for a 100-94 victory at home:

Quin Snyder said, and the players confirmed, that for one full timeout, Quin just said nothing and stared at the players. It worked. — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 31, 2014

As Hayward said after the game about Quin's silent timeout, "He said it all with the look in his eyes." The whole locker room laughed. — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 31, 2014

The move by Snyder isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a coach turning his back on his team as an incentive for them to work harder and play mistake-free ball.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich — considered by us, and others, to be the best coach in the game today — has pulled the same sort of move in a timeout.

Per Jeff McDonald’s Q&A with Popovich last season for the San Antonio Express-News comes news of Pop’s wordless stimulus plan for his troops (emphasis ours):