Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard close it out as Milwaukee Bucks beat Minnesota Timberwolves 112-107

MINNEAPOLIS – The Milwaukee Bucks turned in perhaps their best win of the season late Friday night, toppling the Western Conference’s best team with a 112-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

“It was a great barometer for us,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said. “We put a lot of great work in before the all-star break in the games leading up; the wins and losses didn’t necessarily reflect that, but we’d been having great practices, learning a lot from each other, learning a lot from the staff, from Doc and you’ve heard it said – it’s been a training camp atmosphere. We had a great practice yesterday that was just like that.

"Obviously you don’t need me to tell you that was a great team we just played, the best team in the West. It's a great environment. We just played them a couple weeks ago and they destroyed us, dominated us. So to come out and play the way we played for the majority for the game, that’s a great sign.”

The Bucks (36-21) withstood a furious rally by the Timberwolves (39-18) in the fourth quarter that saw Minnesota whittle a 17-point deficit to four with 1 minute, 58 seconds to go, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard closed it out for the Bucks.

First, Antetokounmpo pulled down a pair of tough offensive rebounds and made 3 of 4 free throws to give the Bucks some breathing room at 108-101. Then after Anthony Edwards hit clutch three-pointers with 47 and 31 seconds remaining to pull the Timberwolves within four and three points, respectively, Antetokounmpo beat a Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns double-team by feeding Jae Crowder for a bucket.

Lillard then provided the dagger with a 21-foot step-back jumper to make it 112-107 with 9.2 seconds left.

BOX SCORE; Bucks 112, Timberwolves 107

“In games like this, in my opinion, you’ve got to give the ball to your best players to operate and make something happen,” Antetokounmpo said. “And Dame has the ball down the stretch, I have the ball down the stretch, we got some good shots. Dame got some good shots. I was able to get to the free throw line. I think Brook got a great three at the top of the key. Jae got the good one underneath. Dame was able to operate, got his midrange, got some shots. We got some offensive rebounds. You’ve got to give the ball to the best guys that can make something happen down the stretch, and then everybody has to be ready to shoot.”

Added Lillard: "A lot of the times they ran two guys at me and I was throwing the ball to Giannis and he’s able to get downhill, get fouled and make the next play. We just was feeding off each other. It was either him or me and we didn’t have to force it. The way we played was kind of making the right pass, all throughout the game, and when you play like that guys are comfortable and confident. They’ve been getting clean shots, they’ve been touching the ball and I think that opens up the door to perform well down the stretch."

Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, while Lillard had 21 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Lopez scored 16 points and Malik Beasley and Bobby Portis had 14 each.

“It was a good win, you know?” Antetokounmpo said. “Coming out of the break, we have 26 games left and to be able to start like this against a team that I think is probably one of the best teams in the West, the best defense in the league – very, very talented, they play hard – and to be able to be locked in, make shots, match their energy, execute down the stretch, it’s a very good start. We have another one against Philly (on Sunday) and hopefully we can go there and play good basketball and make this win count. But at the end of the day it’s a good way to set the tone. This is exactly what we talked about before the break, that we have to come in and don’t talk about it, be about it. I’m happy we were about it today.”

Edwards led Minnesota with 28 while Towns had 22 and 14 rebounds. Gobert had 19 rebounds and 12 points.

Malik Beasley leads key third quarter for Bucks

It wasn’t a surprise that Doc Rivers drew up a play to get Beasley the first shot of the second half – a clean-looking three-pointer – after the shooting guard played the first half without a shot. He was working on defense, picking up two steals and three fouls while defending Timberwolves all-star Edwards for most of the half, but the Bucks also made just 5 three-pointers in the opening 24 minutes.

So even though Beasley’s first attempt missed, it was clear the team wanted – and needed – to get some additional offense.

It worked, as Beasley went 5 for 11 in the third quarter, including four made three-pointers, to score 14 points. He also had another steal as the Bucks outscored the Timberwolves 36-13 to flip a six-point halftime deficit to an 87-70 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“There’s guys that you can see if the ball is moving – or not – Malik had zero attempts at halftime,” Rivers said. “He ended up with 12. I told him probably should have just had 10 because two of those were terrible shots, but that’s what got everybody going. Then once you get that, Dame and Giannis are now in the open floor.”

The Bucks needed every bit of that advantage, too, as the Timberwolves made it close in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t really try to find him,” Lillard said of Beasley. “A lot of times when you play the right way the ball goes where it should go and I think we just started playing the right way. We were attacking the paint knowing that a crowd was going to be there. They’ve got good size and length and we was getting the ball out and in the first half we weren’t making the extra pass.”

Did you notice?

The Bucks opened the game and the third quarter on 7-0 runs, anchored in large part by stifling and connected team defense. Lopez redirected a lob dunk attempt from Gobert and blocked a shot in the sequences, while the team created good looks from behind the three-point line to accentuate baskets from Antetokounmpo. They were short periods of time, but clearly the team wanted to set a tone coming out of the blocks against the West’s best team.

“We started with a lot of energy,” Antetokounmpo said of the third quarter specifically. “We were driving the ball. ‘Beas’ got an open three. Then he drive and kick and somebody else got open three. I was able to, you know, get to the paint. Then we had so much energy defensively and we got so many deflections we were able to run. We set the tone. They took the first timeout. That’s who we’re trying to be.”

Five numbers

2 Antetokounmpo’s rank in franchise history for offensive rebounds, as he passed Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief with his second offensive board of the night in Memphis. Antetokounmpo (1,397) now trails only Marques Johnson (1,468) for the top spot in the franchise record book.

5 Missed shots and assists for Lillard in the first quarter. He went 0 for 5 from the field but his five assists led to 13 points for the Bucks. It helped Milwaukee take a 31-27 lead after the first quarter.Unfortunately for the Bucks, they also went 0 for 5 from behind the three-point line in the second quarter, which helped the Timberwolves flip the scoreboard to take a 57-51 lead into the break.

6 Technical fouls this season on Lopez, who picked up his second in as many games at the 2:01 mark of the first quarter. It immediately followed his second personal foul. Lopez, who started the game 4 for 4 from behind the three-point line, then had to sit with the early foul trouble. Bucks players have been called for 40 technical fouls this season.

10 Bucks games that will be aired locally on CBS-58 and WMLW the remainder of the season. Friday’s game was the first broadcast over the air in Milwaukee.

13 Points allowed by the Bucks in the third quarter, the lowest total they've given up in any quarter this season. Their previous best was allowing just 14 to Portland in the fourth quarter on Nov. 26.

Rivers: "Then defensively, third quarter, (13) points whatever it was, that’s unbelievable. Then down the stretch to get four stops in a row, that’s what we have to become. The third quarter is as good as you’re gonna play defense. But the end to the game getting stops, you have to be able to lean on your defense down the stretch of games and our guys are starting to believe that. That was great."

Patrick Beverley: "I think the head of the snake in Giannis, I think once we seen Giannis kind of pick up and defend and challenge shots, obviously we know the rim protection we have in Brook Lopez, but after you see a guy like Giannis pick up and kind of amp up the defense, I think everybody just followed suit."

Danilo Gallinari makes Bucks debut

New Bucks big man Danilo Gallinari made his debut 10 minutes into the game after Lopez picked up his second foul, but he played just five minutes. Signed on Wednesday night, the 35-year-old last played on Feb. 7 as a member of the Detroit Pistons.

Waived on Feb. 8 to sign with a contender, Gallinari said he joined the Bucks because of his familiarity with Rivers (they both were in Los Angeles from 2017-19). Though Gallinari believes he could play more than the 15 minutes per game he averaged in Washington and Detroit, he said he was willing to accept any role to chase his first NBA championship.

“I can help in different ways and I’m just here to help,” he said Thursday. “Whatever needs to be done, whatever is asked of me, I’ll just do.”

Part of that is giving Rivers some interesting lineup combinations.

“The other lineup that I think is interesting that we haven’t used – we may use tonight – we did it a little bit, maybe, the Miami game or one of the games where we just went super big with Bobby, Giannis and Brook,” the Bucks coach said before the game. “Now with ‘Gal,’ that’s something we can go to. And, that could be effective for us as well.”

Unfortunately, Gallinari was called for two quick fouls after starting the second quarter. He was 0-for-1 from the floor and had a rebound and steal in five minutes. He did not play in the second half.

When will Khris Middleton play?

The three-time all-star suffered a sprained ankle against Phoenix on Feb. 6 and missed the final five games before the all-star break. He did not practice on Thursday in Minneapolis and Rivers said Middleton will be out tonight against the Timberwolves and “probably” out for Sunday’s matinee on the road Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers. But, Middleton did a walkthrough on Thursday and light court work the last two days — which was enough for Rivers to say if it were a playoff series Middleton could go.

HOW TO WATCH: The broadcast of Friday's Milwaukee Bucks game vs. Timberwolves will be found in unusual places

The Bucks return home to play the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 27, which is exactly three weeks from the injury.

Before the Bucks took on the Timberwolves, Rivers acknowledged what kind of loss Middleton has been -- particularly because he said "no one" on the team outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard could replicate the shot creation Middleton brings.

"There's no one can do what Khris does other than Khris," Rivers said. "We already have Dame, we have Giannis, we have a bunch of guys that can catch-and-shoot. Malik (Beasley) is a great catch-and-shoot player. Bobby (Portis) is knocking 'em down. Brook (Lopez) obviously does that. (Gallinari) can do that. 'Gal' may be a guy that can create from the elbows and stuff. He's such a good passer. But we just; that's an empty spot. You don't try and fill it because no one on our team can do it."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis, Lillard close it out as Bucks beat Timberwolves 112-107