MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota's second unit stepped out of a fourth-quarter timeout, looking more like a thrown-together practice drill group than the five men coach and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders would ever ask to hang tough in crunch time of a regular season NBA game.
Zach. Chase. Shabazz. Anthony. Robbie. Two small forwards, two power forwards and, at this point in his career, half a point guard.
The maligned Timberwolves got one missing piece back Wednesday, but lost another. Eventually, the bevy of mismatches caught up with them in a 103-86 loss. And the indefinite nature of a number of the injuries mean nights like this one can be expected again, starting Friday in Los Angeles and lasting until some rehabilitation processes conclude.
"You can't consume yourself with who you don't have," center -- that's right, center -- Robbie Hummel said. "It's kind of an indefinite situation right now. We'll just keep . . . trying to do what we can."
Adding to the Minnesota casualty report, reserve point guard Mo Williams sat out with strep throat and pink eye. He'd missed practice the two days before, and with Ricky Rubio sidelined by a severe ankle sprain, Zach LaVine was the only other option at the point -- a position he rarely played in college and is far from grasping in the NBA.
"I didn't play it at all last year," said LaVine, who had 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and three turnovers in his fifth start. "What you don't use, you lose."
The Wolves (3-10) sure could've used a more NBA-ready floor general in the fourth quarter of their eighth loss in the past nine contests. With just two points on 1-of-8 shooting heading into the final frame, Milwaukee's Brandon Knight caught fire, scoring 13 points -- eight from the foul stripe -- as the Bucks outscored Minnesota 31-16.
It'd have helped if shooting guard Kevin Martin could play some one. But he's out for 6-8 weeks with a fractured wrist. And big men Nikola Pekovic (sprained wrist) and Ronny Turiaf (sore hip) sat in suit jackets, too, leaving Gorgui Dieng as the only option at center.
Unless you're Hummel, a reserve, 6-8 three/four who hasn't played the five since he was at Purdue. That matched him up with 6-11 Larry Sanders, who finished with 15 points -- one of seven Bucks in double figures.
"You just make do with what you've got; you can't add 30 pounds overnight," Hummel said. "I'm going to play hard. I don't care about getting dunked on; I've gotten dunked on in high school, college and the NBA before. It's not anything new."
Minnesota used its seventh different starting lineup in its past seven contests. It's used nine this season, matching the most in the league.
So decimated is the Wolves roster that when Saunders ran into Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen in the Target Center five minutes before tipoff, he asked her if she was available. She pointed at her dress boots, and Saunders said "I'll get you some shoes."
He might've been only half-joking.
Minnesota played hard, Saunders said. But they didn't play smart.
"When we fell behind, we tried to do things a little bit too quick," Saunders said. "That's when you need a steady point guard to calm the ship and say, 'Listen, we're going to get the shot that we want, not the shot you want us to take.'"
Brewer tried, but he hadn't run the point since he played at Florida in the mid and late 2000s. The eighth-year veteran scored a game-high 19 points but turned the ball over seven times to offset three assists.
Even worse, Saunders said, Brewer and his teammates tried to play "hero basketball" in the fourth quarter of a game they trailed just 72-70 after three periods. At that point, the Wolves were shooting 41 percent and hustling their rear ends off.
In the fourth, they went 6 for 20 (30 percent) from the floor.
Minnesota also didn't capitalize on a decisive free-throw advantage, making just 21 of 34 foul-shot attempts (61.8 percent, a season low). The Bucks shot just five free throws all night.
"You can always sense where your team is and how tight they're playing with how they shoot free throws," Saunders said. "In some ways, this loss was more disappointing than our (139-91) loss at New Orleans, and that's when we got beat by 46. I thought we beat ourselves a lot today."
That Nov. 14 defeat against the Pelicans was the most lopsided one in Wolves history.
Thaddeus Young, still mourning the death of his mother, played for the first time since Nov. 12 -- a five-game stretch. The rust was evident, he admitted, as he went 1 for 10 from the field for three points and four rebounds.
In the end, Milwaukee (9-7) and its overwhelming matchup advantages wore down the Wolves. Hummel versus Sanders. LaVine versus Knight. Brewer versus his inexperience instigating an NBA offense.
The game's most anticipated individual clash turned out to be a near non-factor. No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins (14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks) outdueled No. 2 Jabari Parker (11 points, seven rebounds, three assists) in the pair's first regular-season matchup. With those two, LaVine and Giannis Antetokounmpo all starting, it was the first time four teenagers have played in an NBA game.
"I got in it on defense, made some good passes, grabbed a couple rebounds, but we still lost," said Wiggins, who was coming off a 29-point effort Saturday against Sacramento. "I just know where to be on the floor more. I'm more comfortable."
That's a silver lining for a team that had its eye on rookie and sophomore development this year, anyway. It's becoming more and more accelerated as veterans fall by the wayside.
So there's not much left to do, players say, other than exert the kind of want-to they did Wednesday -- even if they're tethered down by lopsided deficits or short-handed lineups.
"We still gave ourselves a chance," Brewer said. "But we're shortened. I don't care what nobody says. We played our butts off."
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