Giannis, Lillard close it out
MINNEAPOLIS – The Milwaukee Bucks turned in perhaps their best win of the season late Friday night, toppling the Western Conference’s best team with a 112-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.
“It was a great barometer for us,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said. “We put a lot of great work in before the all-star break in the games leading up; the wins and losses didn’t necessarily reflect that, but we’d been having great practices, learning a lot from each other, learning a lot from the staff, from Doc and you’ve heard it said – it’s been a training camp atmosphere. We had a great practice yesterday that was just like that.
“Obviously you don’t need me to tell you that was a great team we just played, the best team in the West. It’s a great environment. We just played them a couple weeks ago and they destroyed us, dominated us. So to come out and play the way we played for the majority for the game, that’s a great sign.”
The Bucks (36-21) withstood a furious rally by the Timberwolves (39-18) in the fourth quarter that saw Minnesota whittle a 17-point deficit to four with 1 minute 58 seconds to go, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard closed it out for the Bucks.
First, Antetokounmpo pulled down a pair of tough offensive rebounds and made 3 of 4 free throws to give the Bucks some breathing room at 108-101. Then after Anthony Edwards hit clutch threepointers with 47 and 31 seconds remaining to pull the Timberwolves within four and three points, respectively, Antetokounmpo beat a Rudy Gobert and KarlAnthony Towns double-team by feeding Jae Crowder for a bucket.
Lillard then provided the dagger with a 21-foot step-back jumper to make it 112-107 with 9.2 seconds left.
“In games like this, in my opinion, you’ve got to give the ball to your best players to operate and make something happen,” Antetokounmpo said. “And Dame has the ball down the stretch, I have the ball down the stretch, we got some good shots. Dame got some good shots. I was able to get to the free throw line. I think Brook got a great three at the top of the key. Jae got the good one underneath. Dame was able to operate, got his midrange, got some shots. We got some offensive rebounds. You’ve got to give the ball to the best guys that can make something happen down the stretch, and then everybody has to be ready to shoot.”
Added Lillard: “A lot of the times they ran two guys at me and I was throwing the ball to Giannis and he’s able to get downhill, get fouled and make the next play. We just was feeding off each other. It was either him or me and we didn’t have to force it. The way we played was kind of making the right pass, all throughout the game, and when you play like that guys are comfortable and confident. They’ve been getting clean shots, they’ve been touching the ball and I think that opens up the door to perform well down the stretch.”
Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, while Lillard had 21 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Lopez scored 16 points and Malik Beasley and Bobby Portis had 14 each.
“It was a good win, you know?” Antetokounmpo said. “Coming out of the break, we have 26 games left and to be able to start like this against a team that I think is probably one of the best teams in the West, the best defense in the league – very, very talented, they play hard – and to be able to be locked in, make shots, match their energy, execute down the stretch, it’s a very good start. We have another one against Philly (on Sunday) and hopefully we can go there and play good basketball and make this win count.”
Edwards led Minnesota with 28 while Towns had 22 and 14 rebounds. Gobert had 19 rebounds and 12 points.
Beasley leads key third quarter
It wasn’t a surprise that Doc Rivers drew up a play to get Beasley the first shot of the second half – a clean-looking three-pointer – after the shooting guard played the first half without a shot. He was working on defense, picking up two steals and three fouls while defending Timberwolves all-star Edwards for most of the half, but the Bucks also made just 5 three-pointers in the opening 24 minutes.
So even though Beasley’s first attempt missed, it was clear the team wanted – and needed – to get some additional offense.
It worked, as Beasley went 5 for 11 in the third quarter, including four made three-pointers, to score 14 points. He also had another steal as the Bucks outscored the Timberwolves 36-13 to flip a six-point halftime deficit to an 87-70 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“There’s guys that you can see if the ball is moving – or not – Malik had zero attempts at halftime,” Rivers said. “He ended up with 12. I told him probably should have just had 10 because two of those were terrible shots, but that’s what got everybody going. Then once you get that, Dame and Giannis are now in the open floor.”
The Bucks needed every bit of that advantage, too, as the Timberwolves made it close in the fourth quarter.
Gallinari makes Bucks debut
New Bucks big man Danilo Gallinari made his debut 10 minutes into the game after Lopez picked up his second foul, but he played just five minutes. Signed on Wednesday night, the 35year-old last played on Feb. 7 as a member of the Detroit Pistons.
Waived on Feb. 8 to sign with a contender, Gallinari said he joined the Bucks because of his familiarity with Rivers (they both were in Los Angeles from 2017-19). Though Gallinari believes he could play more than the 15 minutes per game he averaged in Washington and Detroit, he said he was willing to accept any role to chase his first NBA championship.
“I can help in different ways and I’m just here to help,” he said Thursday. “Whatever needs to be done, whatever is asked of me, I’ll just do.”
Unfortunately, Gallinari was called for two quick fouls after starting the second quarter. He was 0-for-1 from the floor and had a rebound and steal in five minutes. He did not play in the second half.