If there was ever a visual summation of how the Timberwolves have looked at times to start this season, it happened in the third quarter when the Bucks left Rudy Gobert wide open at the top of the key.
Gobert, who has never hit a three-pointer in his career, fired away.
A shot that was supposed to travel 24 feet to the hoop wound up going about 19.
It wound up being that kind of night for the Timberwolves in a 115-102 loss to the undefeated Bucks, who are a model of what the Wolves would like to be, but who the Wolves are about as close to being as Gobert was to making his airball.
"We had a lot of really kind of silly plays," coach Chris Finch said. "It happens when you're in an overall funk. But we got to hang together. We have to scrap, and I'd like to see us compete a little bit harder at times when things aren't going well for us offensively."
There were times the Wolves made a run at Milwaukee. They cut a 22-point lead down to eight when Naz Reid sent a charge through the building with a block of Giannis Antetokounmpo and a dunk at the other end.
But the Wolves lacked the necessary execution and consistency of focus to take down a team with a championship pedigree like the Bucks. The Wolves still haven't found a way to get their starters clicking on offense. Anthony Edwards had 24 and Karl-Anthony Towns had 22, but Gobert had just seven points and D'Angelo Russell turned in another eyesore with nine points on 3-for-15 shooting. He started 2-for-5 but was 1-for-10 after that.
"He and I talked for a while yesterday," Finch said. "He started the game really bright today, and I thought he had a lot of really good looks. And again, just got to stay confident in that."
That sequence involving Reid's block and dunk was the kind that might rattle a team like the Wolves, but it served only to steel Milwaukee's and Antetokounmpo's resolve. He took over after that, scoring nine points and extending the lead back to 17.
Antetokounmpo finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists and Jrue Holiday had 29 as Milwaukee improved their undefeated record to 8-0 without its second-best scorer, Khris Middleton.
Despite the result, the Wolves left Friday's game feeling like their performance, while inconsistent, represented a step in the right direction.
"I saw us get a little better today as a team," Towns said. "We're not here for the moral victory, but ... there's some good in this, and there's some good tape in here we can really use."
That good tape wasn't the start of the third quarter, which was a disaster for the Wolves, who trailed by just seven at halftime before falling behind by as many as 22. When asked why the Wolves have been so bad in third quarters to start the season, Edwards said, "I have no clue."
"I need to go watch the beginning of the third, like the whole third," Edwards added. "Once I watch it, I'll have an answer."
At one point, the Wolves allowed Grayson Allen to tip in a missed free throw, which came just before a bad Russell turnover and layup from Holiday. That prompted a Finch timeout and some boos to come down again from the Target Center crowd.
The Wolves' bench, behind Reid and 13 points from Jaylen Nowell, cut it to 11 by the start of the fourth. But the Wolves just couldn't execute their offense effectively for long stretches. They hit just 27% from three-point range while Milwaukee hit 48% from deep.
After a few days of preaching ball movement on offense, the Wolves felt like they were generating better looks, they just weren't falling.
"Just keep shooting, really. Who cares about percentages?" forward Kyle Anderson said. "The shots are going to fall. Keep shooting, keep putting in the work and keep having confidence. ... You can't pay attention to percentages and all that dumb stuff. Just shoot the ball when you're open and make the right play. Play basketball."
The Wolves will get another chance Saturday against Houston, when they tip off less than 24 hours after Friday's 9 p.m. start time. Last year's team also struggled to a 4-9 start out of the gate, but it received a significant boost during that stretch with a win over Milwaukee.
This year's team felt like it improved Friday, but playing Milwaukee made them realize how far they still have to go.
"There's going to be bumps and bruises going up to the top," Towns said. "I think we got better today through all the bad that happened tonight. I think we did get better. I thought we looked more like a team tonight."
