The Bucks weren’t able to rebound after their loss to the Nuggets, dropping their second game in a row, this time to the Timberwolves in blowout fashion, 139-106 (with no Rudy Gobert or Anthony Edwards!). Milwaukee goes the year without getting a win against Minnesota. The last time the Bucks were swept by the Timberwolves was in the 2021-22 season. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.
Player Grades
Giannis Antetokounmpo
31 minutes, 25 points, 8
rebounds, 5 assists, 7 turnovers, 4 fouls, 9/13 FG, 7/14 FT, -11
There were times that Giannis wasn’t giving his full effort when the Bucks went down big, and I don’t necessarily blame him. He put up his usual numbers, but with the Bucks so behind on the scoreboard, it was just empty calories at that point.
Grade: B-
Kevin Porter Jr.
29 minutes, 13 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 turnovers, 5/11 FG, 2/4 3P, -16
Someone has to tell KPJ to pass the ball when he’s in trouble. There were several times where he drove straight into multiple Timberwolve defenders and just chucked up a shot. As with everyone else, the defense wasn’t great either.
Grade: C-
Ryan Rollins
31 minutes, 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 5/14 FG, 1/5 3P, -23
This was the third straight bad Rollins game in a row on the offensive end. He’s shooting a rough 8/36 from the field (22%) and 2/17 (11.8%) from three-point range. Ryan’s getting some open looks, but the shot isn’t falling right now.
Grade: D+
AJ Green
26 minutes, 9 points, 2 assists, 3/9 3P, -8
Green seems to still be slowly finding his shot again. He had several open looks last night, but didn’t cash in enough of them.
Grade: D+
Kyle Kuzma
21 minutes, 2 points, 2 assists, 1/1 FG, -37
What a terrible day for Kuzma. Winner of the unofficial “Gary Trent Jr. plus/minus” award, he had a staggering -37 on the ledger in just 21 minutes. It’s hard to totally blame Kuz, but it was still a bad night overall for him.
Grade: F
Bobby Portis
27 minutes, 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 6/12 FG, 2/4 3P, -19
Portis remains a tiny silver lining. BP got beat off the dribble a few times by Naz Reid, but still contributed to the Bucks’ offense, which is more than I can say for some others.
Grade: C+
Gary Trent Jr.
14 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist, 2/5 3P, -30
Trent comes away with the second-worst plus/minus of the night at -30. He hasn’t gotten his three-point shot working to the same level as last year, and his defense has seemingly lost a step. Need GTJ to turn it around, and quick.
Grade: D
Gary Harris
13 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, 1/2 3P, -19
For the limited role he’s been given, Harris does a good enough job. Maybe you’d like more aggressive shot, but I can’t say he was one of the worst Bucks from last night’s contest.
Grade: C-
Doc Rivers
I’m so over Doc Rivers. I have nothing personal against him, but the expiration date has passed, and now it’s starting to get moldy. If this were a fully loaded T-Wolves team, I’d be a bit more forgiving with the Bucks coming back from a West Coast trip. Yet, the Wolves were missing their star player in Edwards, their best defensive player in Gobert, and one of their top reserve guards in Terrence Shannon Jr. It was simply inexcusable to lose by that much. I’m always willing to allow for a redemption story, but it’s hard to see that happening any time soon.
Grade: F
Garbage Time: Amir Coffey, Cole Anthony, Andre Jackson Jr, Pete Nance, Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Inactive: Myles Turner, Taurean Prince, Alex Antetokounmpo
Bonus Bucks Bits
- When the first half expired, the Bucks were down 31, and let’s just say the Fiserv crowd let the Bucks know their displeasure by booing. In response, on the second offensive possession for the Bucks, Giannis got fouled after making a layup and gave a double thumbs down to the crowd. It’s something we’ve seen Giannis do on the road, but it’s a rarity, if it ever happened, for him to do it at home. Giannis was asked about the gesture postgame:
“It’s the same thing for me; it doesn’t matter. I thrive through adversity; I thrive when people don’t believe in me. Doesn’t matter if I’m on the road or if I’m at home. I’ve never been part of something like that, so it’s something new for me. I like it though.”
“I was definitely booing back, I boo back. It’s something I’ve been doing all season. It doesn’t matter (if it happened at home). I play basketball for my teammates, I play basketball for myself and my family. When people don’t believe in me, I tend to be against them. I’m here to do what I’m good at. I think I’m like a maverick, I’ve always been that way, and I won’t change now. It doesn’t matter if I’m at home or away. I’ve never been a part of something like that, and I don’t think it’s fair. But everybody has their opinion to do what they want to do and how they should act when we don’t play hard, or when we lose games, or when we’re not supposed to be. And I don’t think anyone has the right to tell me how to act on the basketball court after I’ve been here 13 years and I’m basically the all-time leader in everything.”
- Doc Rivers opened his postgame presser saying this was one of the games they lobbied the league office to change in the off-season:
“They just beat us off the dribble all night. I thought we were playing with dead legs. I knew this was going to be a difficult game coming back from a road trip. We looked at the schedule before the season, and this was one of the two games we tried to change; we got one of them changed. Our original schedule was that we were playing tomorrow in San Antonio, and they at least spaced that for us. No excuses, we just didn’t have it, we were flat.”
- The Bucks are now 4-9 against Western Conference teams this season.
- Tonight was the first of three straight games in which the Bucks are wearing their Cream City jerseys. They fell to a 2-4 overall record with them on.
Up Next
The Bucks go back on the road as part of a short two-game trip. They’ll head down to Texas to take on the Spurs on Thursday, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Central. As usual, you can catch this on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin, but you can also catch it over the air if you have an antenna on WMLW.
