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Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis needed a strong lozenge after Friday night's disjointed 87-72 loss to Milwaukee at Target Center.
His team simply needs a victory.
After a season-opening comeback over New Jersey, the Wolves today take a five-game losing streak out onto the road for a two-game trip to Portland and Golden State. Friday's streak-busting possibilities vanished when the Bucks outscored them 31-14 in the third quarter.
His voice raw from unsuccessfully urging his team to move the ball all night, Rambis watched a team that played with so much vigor in Wednesday's 92-90 home loss to Boston and Kevin Garnett play with so little on Friday, particularly in the third quarter.
That's when the Bucks -- after trailing by nine points in the first quarter and by five at halftime -- ratcheted their defense and the Wolves wilted, their verve and ball movement usurped by the Bucks' will and perhaps the personality of Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles.
"They definitely turned it up another notch, and I can believe Scott Skiles had something to with that in the locker room," Wolves rookie point guard Jonny Flynn said. "I would have loved to hear what he said to them at halftime to get them to come out and play like that. That's something we have to do. We have to have that urgency. We didn't have that."
On Wednesday, a large Target Center audience exited the building grumbling at the officials but encouraged by the hometown team after that two-point loss to the Celtics.
On Friday, far fewer fans turned their dissatisfaction toward the Wolves, showering down a smattering of a second-half boos on a team that had no answer for Bucks center Andrew Bogut's 17-point, 10-rebound, four-assist night, nor Hakim Warrick's spontaneity in a decisive third quarter when he scored all but one of his 12 points.