Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton. Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI |
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MILWAUKEE -- His young trio of stars had done enough Friday night, so with the Milwaukee Bucks leading by 17 to start the fourth quarter, head coach Jason Kidd decided to turn things over to his bench.
That plan didn't exactly work out for Kidd or the Bucks, who saw their lead whittle to just seven points before Khris Middleton, Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo came back with five minutes to play and saved the day, locking down a 116-101 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"I thought they did their work in the third and I thought it would be a game to get our bench some playing time," Kidd said. Unfortunately, it never got there."
All three youngsters were on their games.
Middleton set the pace, hitting eight 3-pointers for a game-high 32 points. He's the first Bucks player to make eight in a game since Carlos Delfino did it against New Jersey on March 18, 2011.
His sharp-shooting led to the Bucks finishing with a season-high 14 3-pointers.
"We were sharing the ball and we were making them," said Kidd, whose team shot 52 percent from the field Saturday.
Antetokounmpo, whose first two career triple-doubles have come in the last two weeks, fell one rebound shy of a third, finishing with nine to go along with 12 assists and 27 points while Parker, who has been red-hot since the All-Star break, added 16 with six rebounds and four assists.
"We're getting more comfortable," Antetokounmpo said of Parker. "He's my guy. Right now, I'm trying to spend more time with him ... He's doing a great job of finding me and I think I'm doing a great job of finding him."
Minnesota shot well, hitting 48.3 percent of its attempts and 7 of 22 from behind the arc, put did itself no favors by giving up a whopping 41 points off 26 turnovers.
"We had a lot of turnovers," said Karl Anthony-Towns, who led Minnesota with 21 points on 10 of 14 shooting. "Obviously, that's something we have to fix because we can't beat teams like this, especially a team that was a playoff team last year and is looking to be a playoff team again this year."
The Timberwolves also got 20 from Zach LaVine, 14 from Gorgui Dieng and 10 from Andrew Wiggins.
Shabazz Muhammad finished with 17 -- 10 coming in the second half as the Timberwolves fought their way back and made it a game late.
"The group in the second half played hard and played together," a frustrated Minnesota coach Sam Mitchell said after the game. "They played with the type of intensity and energy that we need to. I thought some of the guys in the first group didn't work that way."
Minnesota came out of the gate strong, shooting an even 60 percent in the first quarter to take a six-point lead. The Timberwolves were still connecting at a good clip in the second, but after just three first quarter turnovers, gave the ball up 10 times in the second which Milwaukee flipped for 16 points and 62-56 lead at halftime.
Middleton hit four of his 3-pointers in the quarter and had 15 at the break.
"Khris was maybe a little more focused tonight in that sense," Kidd said. "He got great wide-open looks. His teammates found him and he knocked them down."
Milwaukee has won two of its last three but remains 5.5 games behind Detroit for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The Timberwolves have lost three in a row and six of their last eight.
NOTES: SG Khris Middleton's eight 3-pointers were a new career high and the most by a Bucks player since F Carlos Delfino also made eight against the Nets on March 18, 2011. ... F Giannis Antetokounmpo's 12 assists were a career high. He also scored 27 points and now has 13 double-doubles this season. ... Minnesota's 26 turnovers were the most in a game this season. ... Timberwolves C Karl Anthony Towns scored 21 points and has finished with at least 20 in 21 games this season. ... Milwaukee was without PG Michael Carter-Williams, who has missed three straight games with a sore left knee. ... The Timberwolves have lost four straight games to the Bucks, including three in a row at the Bradley Center.
