3 keys as Milwaukee Bucks wrap up road trip vs Minnesota Timberwolves

Despite a pretty rough loss to kick things off, I’d say this has been a successful road trip for the Milwaukee Bucks so far, wouldn’t you? They rebounded from said loss to win two straight, including a historic win over the Utah Jazz, and integrated Brook Lopez and George Hill back into the lineup. Sounds good to me!

Now they’ll finish things up against a scrappy Minnesota Timberwolves team that is coming off a game where they not only blew out the Los Angeles Lakers but mocked the heck out of them in the process. The Wolves have won nine of their last 10 games and look as though they’re hitting their stride at the right time.

Minnesota won the first meeting way back in October, but many things have changed since then for both teams. I’m really looking forward to this one as the Wolves have been one of my favorite teams to watch this season.

How much will the Milwaukee Bucks let Pat Connaughton play in his return?

This entire road trip has been about good vibes from getting guys back from injury, huh? Although the Bucks did, unfortunately, lose DeAndre’ Bembry, getting Lopez, Hill, and now Pat Connaughton is great.

Connaughton has been out since he fractured his finger in a game against the Phoenix Suns that has caused him to miss 13 games. The Bucks have gone 9-4 in the stretch, but it will still be nice to have their best reserve player this season back.

I don’t expect Connaughton to be on too much of a minutes restriction in this one. He missed 13 games, sure, but it was with an injury that shouldn’t impact him too much. The only thing that will hold him back, potentially, is conditioning.

We will likely see Connaughton in the 17-to-20-minute range for this one and his shooting will be very much welcomed. Minnesota allows a good amount of 3s (39 percent of their shot allowed) and Milwaukee has been on a hot streak with its 3-point shooting.

He also gives another wing defender that they can throw at Anthony Edwards, who had 25 points in their first meeting.

This will be the first game since the opening night of the season that the Bucks have their full, healthy rotation and it’s wonderful to see.