The Minnesota Timberwolves are coming off their biggest win of the season.
Now, the challenge is to avoid an emotional letdown in their follow-up performance.
Minnesota will go for back-to-back victories when it tips off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday evening in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves have won three of their past four games, including a 112-107 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.
The Timberwolves scored the final eight points of the game to edge the defending NBA champion Thunder, who lost for only the third time this season.
Timberwolves forward Naz Reid said he and his teammates needed to harness that win as they turned their attention to the Bucks.
“Having a game like that against the No. 1 team in the West, potentially the best team in the league, it’s exciting,” Reid said. “It’s good. We’ve got to have the mindset and determination to follow that game moving on.”
Teammate Anthony Edwards agreed. By the time Edwards sat in front of his locker to conduct a postgame interview on Friday, his mind already was focused on the team’s next test.
“That’s just one win, man,” Edwards said. “It’s a regular-season win. Like I said, they’re the best team in the league — by far. We’ve got to keep doing it.”
They will go up against a short-handed Bucks team that is without star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) and role player Taurean Prince (neck). Veteran scorer Kyle Kuzma (illness) is expected to return to the lineup after missing the team’s 111-105 home defeat to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
Milwaukee has lost back-to-back games and four of its past five. The Bucks stayed competitive in their most recent contest against the Raptors.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers is taking a big-picture approach to the team’s recent struggles.
“I think we’re getting closer,” Rivers said. “I think we’re starting to figure it out — and we’re not there, (if) I’m being honest — on who plays best in the non-Giannis minutes. That’s something, if we can get Giannis back healthy for the rest of the year, I think it will serve well for us.”
In the meantime, other players have tried to step forward for the Bucks.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 22 points and dished 13 assists on Thursday, but he also committed seven turnovers. Jericho Sims had six points and seven boards with four turnovers, and Ryan Rollins scored 17 points off the bench with three steals and three turnovers.
“The guys are trying,” Rivers said. “They want to win. The problem is, by doing that, they did too much. … When we have guys out, we have no margin of error.”
Meanwhile, Minnesota is getting closer to full health. Mike Conley (Achilles) and Jaylen Clark (illness) did not play Friday, but Edwards returned from a foot injury and proved critical on both ends of the court in the closing minutes. Conley is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game.
Edwards leads the team with 28.5 points per game on 49.8% shooting. Julius Randle is next with 22.9 points per game to go along with 7.2 rebounds and a team-best 5.7 assists per game.
Edwards also praised Rudy Gobert (team-high 10.6 rebounds per game) for taking on a more prominent role on offense in recent games. It is something that could continue Sunday against Milwaukee.
“I told him, ‘You keep making plays, I’m going to keep trusting you,'” Edwards said.
