At least the road trip is over.
After a 123-114 loss at Milwaukee on Friday the Timberwolves are coming home having lost five in a row. For at least the second time in two games, the Wolves lost a game they led for 2½ quarters, ultimately slayed by a superstar at the top of his form.
Friday it was Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He had a double-double by halftime. By the time this herky-jerky, foul-filled game was over, he had 43 points and 20 rebounds, becoming the first NBA player since Moses Malone to have back-to-back 40-point, 20-rebound games.
To make maters worse, Wolves star Anthony Edwards was hurt when fouled on a drive with 4:13 left in the game. He landed on his left side. After being helped to the bench, he stayed in the game and made his free throws to pull the Wolves within seven.
The Wolves pulled within five on Jaylen Nowell's three-point play with 3 minutes left. But that was as close as they got down the stretch.
There were other issues. Again the Wolves struggled on the boards, getting outrebounded 68-36 by the Bucks, who scored 26 second-chance points off 20 offensive boards while breaking a four-game losing streak and improving to 15-3 at home.
The Wolves (16-20) were playing without center Rudy Gobert, who was out sick, but with Kyle Anderson back. Also playing without a number of other players, Wolves coach Chris Finch gave minutes to Luke Garza and Matt Ryan. Foul trouble by Naz Reid, Anderson and Jaden McDaniels stretched the team's depth even more.
But really, it was Antetokounmpo, who carried a team playing without Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, a team that struggled with its shot until midway through the third quarter.
The Wolves built a 13-point lead at one point in the second quarter as the Bucks went cold. And they still led by 11 at the half.
But Antetokounmpo turned the tables. He scored 15 points with six rebounds in the Bucks 39-22 third quarter as that 11-point halftime lead melted away. The Bucks finished the quarter on a 19-9 run to take a six-point lead into the fourth.
And then the Bucks stayed hot.
Edwards scored 30 points with 10 rebounds for Minnesota. D'Angelo Russell had 15 points and Garza and Nowell each had 16 off the bench.
Bobby Portis scored 22 and Joe Ingles had 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Milwaukee.
Up by just a point after a quarter, the Wolves took advantage of the Bucks going cold in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead. The game was tied at 40 when Antetokounmpo hit two free throws with more than 7 minutes left in the half. Then the Wolves went on a 15-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game to that point, 55-42, on Russell's three-pointer after Edwards blocked Antetokounmpo at the rim.
That run included a couple of technical on the Bucks. The Wolves were up by eight when Antetokounmpo was called for an offensive foul. He complained and got called for a T. Then Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer got the same treatment. Russell — who scored seven points in the 15-2 run — hit both free throws. Then he hit his first three of the game after Edwards' block.
The Bucks, who shot just 5-for-26 (1-for-14 on threes) in the second quarter, pulled within 11 at the half.
The Star Tribune did not send the author of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
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Timberwolves come up short at Milwaukee, lose 123-114 for winless road trip - Star Tribune
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