Yes, the Minnesota Timberwolves are in disarray, but even that isn’t a great excuse; this Milwaukee Bucks team is flat out good and put a pounding on their northern brethren tonight, 125-95. Milwaukee looked like they may be in another cold spell as the first quarter proceeded, but a hot spree helped them snag a 27-16 lead when the period finished. Even with a quiet first half from Giannis, Milwaukee was still able to advance their lead to 63-38. The third featured much of the same battering the Bucks doled out throughout the evening, as Milwaukee won handily to head back home for a game tomorrow against Orlando.
These type of beatdowns have been few and far between the last several years for the Milwaukee Bucks. Shellacking a Minnesota team that, while is completely out of sorts from a chemistry standpoint, was still considered a playoff team with Butler on board is the type of win you can hang your hat on, even with Andrew Wiggins out.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had his quietest scoring night of the season, finishing with just 15 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Still, he managed a scoring spurt in the third quarter with ten and had he gotten the chance to play in the fourth quarter he could’ve kept his rhythm going to get to his usual tallies.
Khris Middleton went for a very tidy 16 points on just 10 shots, while Eric Bledsoe managed nine assists and six rebounds while only attempting six shots. Malcolm Brogdon and Ersan Ilyasova combined for 29 points.
For Minnesota, it was an abysmal shooting night all around, but Jimmy Butler going just 2-11 for four points feels fitting given he was questionable for tonight with trade bait fever an illness. Karl-Anthony Towns scored just 16 points, Derrick Rose looked like their best player for the night. If I were a Timberwolves fan, I would be severely depressed with this situation.
Stat that Stood Out
There are a lot of horrific stats for the Timberwolves compared to the Bucks, but I want to call attention to the turnover stats. Milwaukee turned it over twice as many times as Minnesota (18 to 8), which isn’t great for the Bucks, but they minimized the damage they inflicted on themselves by only allowing 14 points off those turnovers. Minnesota, by contrast, allowed 15 points despite protecting the ball far better. Milwaukee remains terrifying in transition.