Bucks at Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves are having some trouble scoring and the Milwaukee Bucks can’t seem to stop anyone at the defensive end. The Bucks will try to ride Khris Middleton’s hot streak to a second consecutive win when they visit the Timberwolves on Saturday.
Minnesota dropped a 115-90 decision at Detroit on Thursday to mark its sixth straight game failing to score in triple digits. The low-scoring Timberwolves did enough on the defensive end to grab a 94-80 win at home over Utah on Wednesday but could not muster that same effort against the Pistons, allowing 14 3-pointers and 47.7 percent shooting in the 25-point drubbing. Milwaukee is allowing an average of 115.3 points over the last four games and suffered a 131-123 loss at Oklahoma City on Tuesday before doing just enough at the defensive end to walk out of Indiana with a 120-116 win on Thursday. Middleton poured in a combined 69 points in those two games to help the offense keep pace.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (13-21): Middleton scored a career-high 36 points in the loss at Oklahoma City and followed it up by going 12-of-18 from the floor in the win over the Pacers. The 24-year-old guard is a combined 10-of-15 from beyond the arc in those two games and buried multiple 3-pointers in six of the last seven contests. Center Greg Monroe, who slumped to four points on 2-of-9 shooting against the Thunder, caught onto Middleton’s hot streak on Thursday with a 10-of-12 effort from the floor.
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (12-21): Minnesota is experiencing some growing pains as it hands more and more responsibility to young players and works to trade veterans like Kevin Martin. Karl-Anthony Towns continued his Rookie of the Year bid with 22 points and nine rebounds on Thursday – narrowly missing his sixth double-double in seven games. Reigning Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins added 21 points in the loss but Zach LaVine went 1-of-8 from the field and is 2-of-14 over the last two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Bucks took both meetings last season, including a 103-86 triumph at the Timberwolves.
2. Milwaukee F Jabari Parker snapped out of a shooting funk by going 7-of-10 from the field on Thursday.
3. Minnesota PG Ricky Rubio is 7-of-26 from the field over the last three games.