A third quarter collapse on both ends of the ball doomed the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisc.
That led to a 106-88 loss, Minnesota’ fifth in the preseason.
The first half seemed promising for the Wolves, especially after scoring just 68 points against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday evening.
Minnesota trailed 28-20 after the first quarter, but thanks to 13 second-quarter points from Shabazz Muhammad, the Wolves pulled within two at half, trailing just 52-50. Andrew Wiggins, who started at shooting guard, had 10 first-half points as well.
“I think we were just moving the ball,” Muhammad said. “That wa a great group out there with Ricky, KG, all of them. It was a really good mix because we were just finding guys.”
Unfortunately for the Wolves, Wiggins and Muhammad would be held scoreless in the third quarter and the Bucks pulled away with an 87-67 lead. The Bucks would ultimately go into cruise control for the rest of the game, while the Wolves experienced with different lineups.
Muhammad ended the game with a game-high 18 points in nearly 26 minutes off the bench. Center Gorgui Dieng had another solid game, finishing with 15 points and five rebounds. Wiggins led all starters with 14 points.
Khris Middleton led Milwaukee with 17 points and six rebounds. Michael Carter-Williams added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Greg Monroe had the game’s only double-double, finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 12, while Chris Copeland and John Henson finished with 11 each off the bench.
Minnesota shot a dreadful 32.9 percent from the field, while Milwaukee shot 50.6 percent.
“We did 30 minutes,” interim head coach Sam Mitchell said. “… But then you saw what we did for 18. We’ve got to continue to clean that up. We’ve got to come out to better starts… For 30 minutes I thought we did a lot of things.”
A few other observations:
Before the game, Mitchell told reporters that Zach LaVine would come off the bench as a backup point guard. Wiggins will slide to the shooting guard position while Tayshaun Prince will start at the small forward. For now. It’s preseason, so things could change.
Rookie Karl-Anthony Towns got in foul trouble early (two within first 2:16) and played passively throughout the whole game. He finished with six points and six rebounds.
Fellow rookie, although eight years older, Nemanja Bjelica didn’t look quite like himself. He had trouble holding onto the ball and really struggled defensively. He did hit a 3-pointer from 27-feet out, though, so there’s that. Bjelica finished with eight points and seven rebounds off the bench.
If it wasn’t for Muhammad, this game would be far-more lopsided. Aside from having a game-high 18 points, he also added five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Muhammad shot 3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-3 from deep and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.
“I thought Shabazz had his best game,” Mitchell said. “He’s starting to get his legs back under him.”
This is the Ricky Rubio that Wolves fans longed to see last season. With 10:40 left in the first quarter, Rubio went off the high screen to hit Wiggins in stride for the back-door throw down. Thanks to our friend Zach Harper for the Vine below.
Ricky Rubio beautiful bounce pass to Andrew Wiggins against Bucks RT @talkhoops: https://t.co/s8nJWD5p3G
It will be the Bucks again on Friday, but this time it will be at the Target Center. It’s Minnesota’s last preseason game before the regular season starts on Oct. 28. Tip is set for 7 p.m. The game will air on Fox Sports North and WCCO-830 AM.
