Following the blowout win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves headed back out on the road for another one-game road trip, this time against the Chicago Bulls.
Last game, the Wolves did a good job of containing LaMelo Ball, holding him to 19 points on 6-15 shooting. The Bulls present a similar matchup with Coby White. Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch talked pre-game about how to best defends guards like Ball and White.
“Well, you gotta get back and make a play in front of you. I mean, both of them are really dynamic in the open four. Shooting from everywhere, shooting from deep. I personally think [White] is one of the most underrated players in the league.”
Chicago has a recent history of making a ton of 3-point shots against Minnesota. Dating back to the 2021-22 season, the Bulls have 80-173 (46.2%) on 3-point shots against the Wolves. That trend would continue to start this game as the Bulls would made six of their first seven attempts from deep, surging out to a 34-28 lead at the end of the first quarter.
With the Wolves potentially looking for a defensive spark, Josh Minott got some early playing time in the first half, playing close to three minutes in the first quarter.
Chicago’s strong shooting would continue in the second quarter as they were consistently able to generate open looks from beyond the arc and build a 12-point lead early in the period, leading to a Minnesota timeout.
Chicago would finish the first have shooting 60 percent from the floor and 58.8 percent from long-range, giving them a 65-56 lead at the half. Nikola Vucevic led the way for Chicago with 13 points.
Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards did the most offensively for the Wolves scoring 14 and 13 points respectively with each player having an identical 6-12 shooting line from the floor. They also each made one of their three 3-point attempts.
The Wolves defense would start to get some stops at the begging of the second half, allowing them to cut into the Chicago lead on this pretty alley-oop from Mike Conley to Rudy Gobert.
That five-point Bulls lead would hold the remainder of the quarter as they led 95-90 heading into the final frame of basketball.
Donte DiVincenzo would begin to heat up to start the fourth quarter, hitting two 3-pointers to cut the Bulls lead to three.
The Wolves would continue to wear down the Bulls, who played the Dallas Mavericks just last night, as they would eventually take the lead with just under seven minutes left in the game, their first lead since the score was 3-0.
That would lead to an all-too-familiaar scoring surge from Edwards who would hit back-to-back 3-pointers, including this pull-up in transition, to put the Wolves up by seven.
The Timberwolves’ lead would only grow from there as they would finish the fourth quarter with a 45-24 advantage giving them a 135-119 win in Chicago.
Edwards led the way for the Wolves with 33 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Randle scored 22 points with ten rebounds and three assists. Gobert was the third Wolves player with 20 or more points scoring 21 along with nine rebounds and three assists.
Vucevic led the way for the Bulls with 25 points on 11-15 shooting. White was next in line for Chicago with 24 points of his own
This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availabilities.
Up Next
The Timberwolves return home from their one-game sabbatical to the Windy City to face the Portland Trail Blazers at Target Center. The game tips off at 8:00 PM CT airing on FanDuel Sports Network North.
It will be the first of three games upcoming against the Trail Blazers with the two playing each other on back-to-back nights following the Wolves game against the Miami Heat on Sunday.
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