Final Score: Timberwolves take down Bucks, 107-98

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been decimated by injuries this season and remain without their star player Kevin Love, but they had little trouble beating the Milwaukee Bucks 107-98 in the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Wednesday night. Ricky Rubio (19 pts, 12 ast, 8 stl) narrowly missed a triple-double and went 5/6 from three, setting a new carer high in 3-point makes. Nikola Pekovic sank 11 of his 14 shots for a team-high 27 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. The Wolves' starting lineup scored 85 of Minnesota's 107 points.

The victory gave Minnesota head coach Rick Adelman his 999th career win.

The Bucks' defense left a lot to be desired once again, allowing 52.4% shooting from the floor and 58 points in the paint. A solid second quarter saw the Bucks take the lead and a late bucket by Monta Ellis had the halftime deficit at just 3, but Milwaukee couldn't slow down the Wolves in the second half, getting outscored in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

The Bucks were led by another excellent offensive performance from Ersan Ilyasova who scored a game-high 29 points on 12-21 shooting. Monta Ellis added 18 but shot just 7-20 and committed 6 turnovers. Mike Dunleavy was 6-9 (3-5 3PT) for 15 points while Brandon Jennings had 13 points (6-14 FGs), 8 assists, and 3 steals. J.J. Redick struggled again, shooting 4-13 for just 8 points.

Boston's 98-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons drops Milwaukee back to 2.5 games behind the 7th-seeded Celtics. The Bucks play 6 of their remaining 8 games on the road, beginning with a trip to New York on Friday night.