Preview: The Bucks have lost four of their past five games, including Wednesday's 102 -88 home loss to New York, after they started the season 6-2. The one victory in those past five games was Monday's 93-92 victory at Chicago in which they trailed by 27 points in the third quarter. ... The Wolves are back home after going 1-3 on a West Coast trip that ended with Wednesday's 101-95 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles. Usually the first game back from a Western trip is a "trap" game, but the Wolves were 2-0 last season when returning from a trip of three games or more. ... The Bucks have won four of the past five meetings, including last season's lone game, 98-95 at Milwaukee in the season's second game. Rick Adelman missed that game because of a family matter and assistant Terry Porter coached the Wolves.
Players to watch: Watch out for the Bucks starting backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. Jennings leads the league in steals with 2.92 per game and Ellis is one of 10 NBA players who has scored 30 or more points more than once. The two are combining for 36.5 points a game. ... Rookie starting F John Henson grabbed 18 rebounds in a game against Miami last week, the most by a Bucks rookie in more than 25 years. He is one of eight rookies in the past five years to do that and, of course, Kevin Love is one of those eight, although he had 18 only once in his rookie season. ... Minnesota's own Joel Przybilla, the former Gopher from Monticello, has played in four of 13 Bucks game.
Injuries: Wolves G Ricky Rubio (knee surgery), G Brandon Roy (knee surgery), G Chase Budinger (knee surgery) all are out. Bucks F Luc Mbah a Moute (knee surgery) is out.
JERRY ZGODA
