Wolves Beat Bucks / Saturday Notes

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• Minnesota routed the Bucks 106-85 in Minneapolis, as the Bucks ended the preseason with a thud (box score). Minnesota made every shot they took in the first quarter, and while the Bucks eventually rallied to within five early in the third, another run by the Wolves put the game away by the start of the fourth. Mo, Redd, Simmons, Villanueva and Gadzuric started.
  
• The Wolves shot 61% for the game, and spent much of the first half close to 80%. Listening on the radio it was hard to tell how much of it was bad defense and how much of it was hot shooting, but needless to say it was a big step backwards for a team trying to establish a defensive identity.
  
• Al Jefferson had an easy time of it with 24/12 on 9/12 fg, but the lesser players also shot exceptionally well. Tough to win when Rashad McCants, Ryan Gomes, and Theo Ratliff shoot a combined 19/23 from the field.
  
• Turnovers were again a major problem, the Bucks racking up 27 TOs. Amazingly Minnesota was even worse with 30 TOs. Still, "sloppy" has been perhaps the defining adjective of the Bucks' preseason offense.
  
• The Bucks' PGs were especially poor, with Mo Williams racking up 5 TOs in the first quarter and Royal Ivey 7 TOs in the game.
• Dan Gadzuric had 16/8.
  
• Charlie Bell sparked the offense in the second quarter with 10 points, but left the game in the third with a leg injury. Ted Davis said he didn't leave the bench and it wasn't mentioned in the JS game report, so hopefully it's nothing serious.
• Yi had 13 points on just 2/6 from the field, but was active drawing fouls down low (9/12 ft). He also blocked a pair of shots, had no turnovers and just one foul.
• Krystkowiak wasn't happy:

  “It was pathetic," said Bucks coach Larry Krystkowiak. "For all the talk about our defensive effort. A lot of that was shot right down the drain. But I don’t mind being exposed right now. That’s just going to create a little more focus. We learned a lot in the preseason and we finished it off with a really poor effort. That’s an indication that we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

• Alex at Boeder Bucks takes a look at Marty Burns' rookie predictions as well as NBA.com's initial rookie rankings.
• Gery Woelfel reported last week that Michael Ruffin's contract required he be cut by October 26 or his contract becomes guaranteed. It's now October 27, so that leaves Ramon Sessions as the only NG'ed contract on the team. Woelfel expects Sessions to stay, which makes sense to me.