Jaden McDaniels, Jarred Vanderbilt do the dirty work in Timberwolves win over Bucks

MILWAUKEE — The Timberwolves' top three players all had a good night in their 113-108 victory over Milwaukee. Karl-Anthony Towns stopped letting his battles with officials get the better of him in scoring 25 points on 9 of 13 shooting. Anthony Edwards scored 25 as well and came up with four points in the final minute to ice the win while D'Angelo Russell hit his first five shots on his way to 29.

The Wolves, however, don't beat the Bucks without the contributions of Jaden McDaniels and Jarred Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt got his first start of the season and as a reward he had the unenviable task of guardian Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 40 points. Vanderbilt is a key cog in the Wolves' team defense when he's on the floor and his major contribution Wednesday came on the glass.

Vanderbilt corralled 13 rebounds, including six offensive 24 second-chance points to Milwaukee's 13. He benefited from some of those second-chance points in scoring 10. Vanderbilt had some on the glass too.

His energy was contagious among his teammates.

"Oh man, he's my favorite player on the team," Edwards said. "I love to see him succeed, man. He helps us tremendously. I can't even describe it. I'm just happy for him, bruh. I love to see him succeed."

Added coach Chris Finch: "He played a complete game. He really did. Just guarding Giannis and taking that challenge as much as we gave it to him. Particularly in the first half, he was really active finding the [rebounding] gaps in their defense."

"Middleton's got that length and we're fortunate enough to have a guy like Jaden who takes those challenges and really responds," Finch said. "He did a great job."

Finch also added: "Jaden McDaniels has been doing a really good job of rebounding for us all season. Even if the numbers don't show it for us, he's in the mix."

Towns explains quiet start

Towns mentioned after the game Edwards and Russell said they wanted to have the ball in their hands a little more to control the action offensively. Towns went along with it and didn't shoot at all in the opening minutes of the game.

The plan worked, though, as the Wolves shot 68% in the first quarter. Towns waited until there were 3 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the first quarter to take his first shot.