Wolves Beaten By Bucks
Jonah BallowWolves Editor/Writer
Email / Twitter
  DOWNLOAD MP3 Jonny Flynn DOWNLOAD MP3 |
"I expected to see a much more energized group come out of the locker room; the players know how hard the Bucks play, how tenacious they are, so I expected more energy and effort coming out, but we just couldn't get it going in the second half, particularly in the third quarter," head coach Kurt Rambis said.
The Wolves carried the momentum from the highly competitive Celtics contest to the first quarter. With a 24-16 lead at the end of period one, Minnesota was poised to capture its second win of the season. Rookie Jonny Flynn hit two early step-back jumpers, showing aggression on the offensive side of the floor against his rookie counterpart, Brandon Jennings. Milwaukee's star guard finished with nine points on 4-for-16 shooting. Flynn is now the only rookie to record double figures (20 points) in every game this season.
A brisk of cold air must have seeped through the Target Center in the second quarter. Milwaukee jumped out to an 8-0 run in the first seven minutes of the period and limited the Wolves to only 14 points on 29.4 percent shooting from the floor.
Jennings drained a 3-pointer to continue the rally for the Bucks. Along with Hakim Warrick's 11 points, Milwaukee snatched the lead at the 8:42 mark of the third quarter. The Bucks used physicality to suffocate Minnesota's offense while racing out to an 11-3 run.
"They picked up their defense, they definitely did that," Rambis said. "Scott Skiles' teams are traditionally hard-nosed, defensive teams. We settled, we accepted being denied, we didn't work to get open. We have counters, we have pressure releases, and the players just weren't aggressive and active in executing those, so the pressure just kept bothering us and kept building. The players get frustrated because they can't make things happen, but they are not doing the right things to stop it from happening."
Shooting guard Corey Brewer tallied 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting from the floor and remained consistent defensively with two steals. After scoring 24 points against Boston, Oleksiy Pecherov lost the magic while recording two points in the defeat.
"We said it in the beginning -- this is going to be a process, this is going to take time, and they have to learn how to play together and how to do the right things in order to get wins," Rambis said.
Minnesota hits the road on Sunday in search of a victory to snap the five-game losing skid. The Portland Trail Blazers will host the Wolves at 8 PM and then Minnesota travels to Golden State on Monday night.
For more news and notes on the team follow the Minnesota Timberwolves and Jonah on Twitter.
