Anthony Edwards struggles, Timberwolves lose to Bucks 103-101

Anthony Edwards said earlier this season he doesn’t like playing for overtime, so when the Timberwolves were down two with 10.9 seconds to play Wednesday, the easy money was on Edwards taking a three-pointer to end the game.

After Brook Lopez hit the second of two free throws to give Milwaukee the lead, coach Chris Finch opted to not call a timeout and give Milwaukee a chance to get its optimal defensive personnel on the floor. Edwards dribbled at Kevin Porter Jr., and when he saw Porter back up, Edwards took a step-back three. It missed, as did 22 other shots of Edwards’ on the night, and the Wolves lost a winnable game 103-101 to the Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

“He just was backing up, like shuffling his feet, so I went with the shot that I’m the most comfortable with,” Edwards said. “I tried to get to the ‘middie’ the possession before and it [went] in and out. So, I took a shot that I was comfortable with. I thought it was going in.”

Edwards missed his last three shots down the stretch; he also missed the aforementioned midrange jumper with 32.3 seconds left in a tie game.

Those capped a 10-for-33, 28-point night for Edwards in a shooting performance that mirrored his team. The Wolves were cold all night and heated up on a night they shot 38% overall and 23% from three-point range. A shooting night like that is why a shorthanded Milwaukee team was able to pull out a win with former Apple Valley star Gary Trent Jr. scoring 21 to lead the Bucks.

“A tough one. I’m going to go home and I’m mad,” said center Rudy Gobert, who was one of the few with a good stat line of 20 points and 14 rebounds on 10-for-14 shooting. “It’s a two-point game and there’s so many plays, so many shots, so many plays that we only needed one of them to win the game.”

This is one of those nights that the Wolves will kick themselves for losing if they miss out on a more advantageous playoff seed by a game or two. Even though they are shorthanded themselves (down guards Donte DiVincenzo and Mike Conley and forward Julius Randle), they had the best player on the floor. They had center Naz Reid, who had 22 points, but Reid started cold and was only 1-for-7 from three-point range, where he has been scorching through the cold winter. Forward Jaden McDaniels missed his first four shots of the evening en route to 10 points.

“We’re shorthanded. We’ve got to have it from these guys, no doubt about it,” Finch said.

The only other silver lining on the night was rookie guard Terrence Shannon Jr., who had 11 points, six assists and five rebounds.

“Just playing my game, letting the game come to me,” Shannon said. “I’m at my best when I’m in transition and everybody has the faith in me to do that and give me the ball.

“… I’m getting a lot more comfortable. First couple of games, playing timid. I was having a talk with the coaches and some of the players, and it’s starting to click for me a little bit.”

On the other end of that spectrum, Finch is hoping things start to click more for another rookie guard, Rob Dillingham, who was 1-for-5 with two points and no assists.

“We certainly need more from Rob in that situation. We need more of a point guard,” Finch said. “Right now, I think he’s trying to search for his offense too much, and he needs to search pace, search the paint and search the pass.”

Despite Conley’s struggles at times this season, the Wolves are now 2-6 when he doesn’t play. Guard Joe Ingles brought some organization to the offense in the first half as the Wolves erased an early 16-point deficit, but on a night nobody had it going from the outside, the Wolves needed someone else to step up and take charge of the offense.

“We need to get more organized,” Finch said. “… And again, this is what we need from Rob. We need him to get us into stuff, get us organized, play with some structure.”

The Wolves didn’t look organized from the start, and it led to a close game against a beatable team. Finch was fine with the looks Edwards took at the end, but it should not have come to that.

“A lot of things to be upset at,” Gobert said. “We let that one get away.”