Budinger, Wolves beat Bucks in Green Bay
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Chase Budinger scored 20 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Milwaukee Bucks 100-76 in the teams' preseason finale Friday night.
Budinger, who has been the Timberwolves' leading scorer in the preseason since All-Star forward Kevin Love broke his hand, hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 third-quarter points.
Nikola Pekovic scored 19 points, Derrick Williams added 13 and Malcolm Lee 10 for the Timberwolves, who outscored the Bucks 48-26 in the paint.
Brandon Jennings led the Bucks with 19 points. Doron Lamb added 12 points, Beno Udrih scored 11 and Ersan Ilyasova had 10.
The Timberwolves took a 24-15 first-quarter lead after going 3 for 4 from 3-point range. The advantage grew to 35-18 in the second quarter when the Timberwolves, who shot 56 percent from the floor in the opening half, went on a 9-0 run before taking a 48-36 lead into halftime.
The Bucks went on a 10-2 run in the third quarter to close the gap to 13. However, the Timberwolves answered with nine of the next 11 points to put the game out of reach.