The injury absence of Anthony Edwards has put LaMelo Ball squarely in the spotlight for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ball and his teammates will look to sharpen their game when they tip off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in Minneapolis.
The Timberwolves (4-3) won three of four games with Edwards but have lost two of three games since he left with a knee injury. He is expected to miss about two months.
Ball has struggled to find a rhythm without the Timberwolves’ best player on the court. During the team’s most recent contest, a 121-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Ball shot 2 of 10 from the field, 0 of 4 from the 3-point range and finished with more turnovers (five) than assists (four).
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch acknowledged that Ball made too many mistakes.
“He’s got to figure it out,” Finch said. “The turnovers are unnecessary.”
However, Finch said the box score does not tell the complete story about a player.
“To be fair, they’re fouling him all over the floor,” Finch said. “They got their hands on him, they’re bumping him, they’re holding him, they’re rising him off his line. And at the other end of the floor, he’s being whistled for a bunch of touch fouls.
“The way they allow people to just put their hands on him over the full court, I thought we got rid of that stuff in the ‘80s, but apparently not.”
Milwaukee (1-5) is also looking for a better performance after a rough start to the season. The Bucks have lost five of their first six games, including a 136-111 loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
Kel’el Ware led Milwaukee with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Tyler Herro added 15 points despite shooting 5 of 18 from the field.
The Bucks could give more opportunities to a pair of first-round picks, Brayden Burries and Nate Ament, after each of them scored 14 points on Saturday. Buries made 4 of 7 shots and Ament made 6 of 8 shots.
Bucks coach Taylor Jenkins has tried to mix and match the rookies with different teammates on the floor.
“Night to night, they’re playing with different personnel groupings,” Jenkins said. “We haven’t found consistency when it comes to who they’re playing with.”
Minus Edwards, the Timberwolves’ top scorer is Jaden McDaniels. He is averaging 17.3 points per game while shooting 55.3% from the field.
Ayo Dosunmu is next on the scoring list with 15.3 points per game, and Ball follows with 14.4 points per game despite shooting 39.3% from the field.
For Milwaukee, Herro is the top scorer with 22.0 points per game, and he is shooting 44.7% from 3-point range. Jaime Jaquez Jr. is second with 16.2 points per game, and Ware rounds out the top three with 13.0 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds.
Minnesota is 2-1 at home this season. Milwaukee is 0-2 on the road.
