LaMelo Ball scored 34 points on 12-for-21 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 112-100 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Ball drained a half-dozen 3-pointers in his best performance of the season for Minnesota. Ayo Dosunmu registered a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Rudy Gobert did the same with 10 points and 10 boards.
Tyler Herro scored 21 points to lead Milwaukee, which lost for the sixth time in seven games to start the season. Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, and Myles Turner and AJ Green scored 13 points apiece.
Minnesota outscored Milwaukee 32-24 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
The Timberwolves started the fourth quarter on an 11-3 run to turn a four-point lead into a 12-point advantage. Jaden McDaniels scored six points during the run with a running layup, a jump shot and a tip-in layup. Jaylen Clark added a 3-pointer, and Joan Beringer contributed a putback dunk.
Minnesota jumped to an 11-point lead in the first four-plus minutes. Ball knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Timberwolves on top 15-4.
The Timberwolves increased their lead to 13 in the final minute of the first quarter, but Brayden Burries made a layup to cut the deficit to 29-18 before the quarter ended.
Milwaukee rallied to outscore the Timberwolves 29-19 in the second quarter and pull within one point at the half. The Bucks started the second quarter on a 10-2 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Green, a layup by Ryan Rollins and a floating jump shot by Burries.
Burries finished with nine points and nine rebounds but missed 11 of 15 shots from the field. Nate Ament, who, like Burries, was selected by the Bucks in the first round of this year’s NBA draft, finished with four points off the bench.
The Timberwolves played without Terrence Shannon Jr., who missed the game because of a left hip contusion. Shannon Jr. joined Anthony Edwards (right knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (right Achilles tendon) on the inactive list.
