National Basketball Association
Minnesota 108, Milwaukee 89
When: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 1, 2018
Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Officials: #17 Jonathan Sterling, #26 Pat Fraher, #41 Ken Mauer
Attendance: 17199
Jimmy Butler scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 108-89 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday at Target Center.

Khris Middleton had 21 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead Milwaukee, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Minnesota, which entered the game with four losses in the past five games, dominated from early in the second quarter.

The Timberwolves led by double-digits minutes into the second quarter and increased the margin to 23 on the first play of the third quarter on an Andrew Wiggins alley-oop dunk from Jeff Teague. Milwaukee trimmed the lead to as little as 15, but the Timberwolves built the lead back up to 20 down the stretch.

The Timberwolves shot 54 percent from the field and held the Bucks to 38 percent shooting, with Milwaukee finishing just 21 percent (6 of 29) from 3-point range. Towns and Butler were both efficient from the field -- Towns hit 10 of 13 and Butler made 8 of 15.

Milwaukee, which expects to get starting forward and former No. 2 pick Jabari Parker back Friday from a year absence caused by a torn ACL, lost starting point guard Malcolm Brogdon to a left quad strain in the second quarter.

Brogdon's backup, Matthew Dellavedova, finished with zero points in 25 minutes.

Minnesota cruised to the win despite having just Towns and Butler in double figures. Wiggins finished with just seven points, but five Timberwolves had either eight or nine points, including Teague, who had nine points to go along with his eight assists.

Milwaukee claimed the battle of the boards, 43-39, but the Timberwolves outdid the Bucks in assists, 27-19, and had seven blocks compared to one for Milwaukee.

The 19-point loss was the Bucks' second big defeat in six games, following a 116-94 setback at Philadelphia on Jan. 20.

The Bucks host the New York Knicks on Friday. Minnesota hosts the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Milwaukee   Minnesota
Khris Middleton 21 Scoring Jimmy Butler 28
Giannis Antetokounmpo 6 Assists Jeff Teague 8
Giannis Antetokounmpo 14 Rebounds Karl-Anthony Towns 11
Giannis Antetokounmpo 5 Free Throws Made Jimmy Butler 10
Khris Middleton 4 Steals Andrew Wiggins 3
Sean Kilpatrick 1 Blocks Taj Gibson 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Milwaukee 89 37.6 6-29 19-25 19 43 1 6 15
Minnesota 108 53.8 7-19 17-20 27 39 7 8 14
Upcoming Games
  • Minnesota will play their next game at home against New Orleans. The Timberwolves have a W/L % of .562 after a win and .652 after a loss.
  • Milwaukee will play their next game at home against New York. The Bucks have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .591 after a loss.