Wolves win final preseason game

What you saw Friday, Sam Mitchell said, was about as close to the vision he has for the Timberwolves this season as he's seen yet. Now the challenge is to take that into the regular season.

Mitchell, Wolves interim coach, was talking about the Wolves' 112-108 victory over Milwaukee at Target Center in the final preseason game for both teams. He was talking about the depth in scoring after his bench had scored 53 points, about how surrounding youngsters Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins with veterans Kevin Garnett and Tayshaun Prince in the starting lineup will bear fruit.

"That's my vision for this team," Mitchell said. "We have the experience to get us off to a good start. Then we come in with the bench. … That will give us a chance to do some things.''

In an enticing display of what is to come, Towns hit eight of 12 shots, scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. He showed a variety of moves, showed his skill by tracking down a loose ball and, in one motion, sending a behind-the-back pass to Prince for a corner three. And he brought the crowd to its feet with a fast-break dunk over Khris Middleton that had teammate Kevin Martin comparing him to Anthony Davis.

"For him to show that side of his game, where he can throw behind-the-back passes, spin moves? That's incredible,'' Martin said.

Wiggins scored 24 points, going 3-for-4 on three-pointers with six rebounds and four assists. Ricky Rubio, playing his most extended minutes of the preseason, scored 13.

And that's before even mentioning the bench.

And the Wolves defense, a problem for much of the preseason, trapped and rotated effectively all night, holding the Bucks to 43.8 percent shooting. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 23 points. Middleton had 19, Jerryd Bayless 18.

"We're still making a lot of mistakes," Mitchell said. "We put them on the free throw line too much. But people can see our young guys are learning.''

The score was tied at 96 when Muhammad hit two free throws with 5:38 left. After a Bucks turnover, Wiggins hit a three. Then Gorgui Dieng was rewarded for a block on the defensive end with a nice pass from Rubio. His basket made it 103-96, and the Wolves didn't trail again.

Using a mixture of starters and reserves in the fourth quarter, the Wolves got 19 of their 29 points off the bench over the final 12 minutes.

Moving the ball well, the Wolves picked up 26 assists on 40 made baskets; the Wolves made nine of 18 three-pointers.

"It doesn't matter about the individual stats we put up," Towns said. "It's the team stats. Today we did a great job defensively, offensively. We did a better job shooting the ball.''

It was a game that ticked a lot of boxes. Mitchell wanted to see better defense and better shooting. He got both. Martin wanted to have a strong game before the regular-season opener, and he got it. Rubio wanted to get back into the flow of things after missing much of the preseason with a quad strain. Friday he hit four of seven shots, had six assists and three steals.

"I think we executed well," Wiggins said. "Everyone that went into the game played a big part defending, rebounding, scoring. It's always good to end [the preseason] with a win.''