MILWAUKEE – The Timberwolves entered the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s game against Milwaukee ahead by 20. All they had to do was not collapse to come away with a much-needed win in the logjammed playoff race in the Western Conference.
But disaster happened. The Wolves picked the worst time to have their worst fourth-quarter calamity of the season in a 110-103 loss to the Bucks.
The Wolves gave back all of what became a 24-point lead early in the quarter as the offense became nonexistent following a blistering third quarter. The Wolves committed nine turnovers in the fourth quarter and they went 8 minutes, 34 seconds without a field goal. The Wolves were down 107-103 when their best shooter all night, Donte DiVincenzo, missed a corner three with 24.1 seconds to play, sealing their fate. Now where they go from here, both mentally and in the standings, is anybody’s guess. The next game against Memphis will be a test of their mental fortitude.
Anthony Edwards broke the Wolves single-season scoring record with 25 points while DiVincenzo had 24. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 23 for Milwaukee while Kevin Porter Jr. had 21 and Bobby Portis had 18 points, 10 rebounds off the bench.
The Wolves led 95-71 with 10:09 to play in the fourth quarter when the wheels came off. Milwaukee scored 23 consecutive points to make the score 95-94 before Julius Randle got the Wolves back on the board with a pair of free throws at the 4:56 mark. The Wolves settled for shots or turned the ball over against Milwaukee’s zone defense and they couldn’t get a stop at the other end as the Bucks caught fire. Possession after possession ended with a missed shot on poor shot selection, or a turnover, and that led to easy points the other way for Milwaukee, which had 15 points off the Wolves’ miscues in the fourth.
Milwaukee tied the score 97-97 on a three from A.J. Green with 3:35 to play. Then things got heated between Kevin Porter Jr. and Rudy Gobert, who had a confrontation on the Wolves’ next possession and needed to be separated. After review, officials assessed double fouls and double technical fouls on Porter Jr. and Gobert while giving an additional technical to Gary Trent Jr. But following an Anthony Edwards turnover, the Bucks took a 99-98 lead. They followed that with another turnover, this time from Julius Randle, and another Milwaukee bucket from Porter Jr. It just got worse from there, the Wolves looked like they had never faced a zone defense and no matter who Finch threw in the game at that point became frozen.
The Wolves played with more energy in the early going than they had in their previous two games, not a surprise given the two days off and the fact that they were facing a good team. That tends to give them a little more juice than playing teams trying to tank. Edwards was aggressive early, and against Milwaukee’s drop coverage, he was hunting for his shot in the mid-range, something he hasn’t done at a high rate this season.
He hit 4-for-9 to start the night as the Wolves went on a 9-0 run for a 21-13 lead in the first quarter. Edwards finished the first with eight points and the Wolves led by as many as 11 before ending the quarter up 28-23. Bobby Portis returned from a 25-game suspension for the Bucks and had four points and four rebounds in his first shift off the bench.
