Without their afternoon naps and star center, the Timberwolves lost 130-105 to Milwaukee Wednesday afternoon at Target Center. Four days after they beat Chicago by four points at home, the Wolves lost games rescheduled for consecutive days by a combined 55 points.
They lost by 30 points to Brooklyn after Monday night's game was moved to Tuesday afternoon, then lost by 25 points little more than 24 hours later.
"We just played soft, flat and soft," Wolves coach Chris Finch said. "Yesterday was flat. Today was soft. Not a lot of resistance to anything that we did."
The Bucks played without their two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo while the Wolves went without their star Karl-Anthony Towns. He missed Tuesday's game to honor the anniversary of his mother Jacqueline Cruz-Towns' death from COVID-19 complications at age 58. He didn't play on Wednesday for what the team again called personal reasons.
As they did Tuesday, the Wolves on Wednesday played in a rare weekday afternoon start. They did so because of evening curfews ordered in Minneapolis and other nearby cities following Sunday's killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by a Brooklyn Center police officer.
"Nah, that's not an excuse," Wolves rookie guard Anthony Edwards said when asked if the uncertainty whether his team would play — or when they'd play — played a factor the last two afternoons.
Tuesday's game started at 3 p.m., Wednesday's game at 3:30 p.m.
"Just missing KAT, that's always like a big piece for us," Wolves rookie Jaden McDaniels said. "That's our go-to guy and he does a lot of great things. It's just us having to pick it up. The uncertainty of not playing, not knowing if we're going to play, it's just something we've got to adjust to, really."
