Observations: Towns, Russell power Wolves past Bulls originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Bulls (22-30) dropped their second straight game with a 121-117 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves (14-40) Sunday night.
Here are 17 observations:
1. The Bulls got off to a clunky start in this one, missing six of their first seven shots and entering the game's first timeout -- at the 7:05 mark -- with as many made field goals as turnovers (three). They trailed 29-26 entering the second, as the Timberwolves turned five first-quarter turnovers into seven points.
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2. That deficit expanded to 66-55 by halftime after the Timberwolves won the second quarter 37-29. At the break, Minnesota was shooting 53.8 percent from the floor and a scalding 10-for-19 from 3-point range. They entered play the NBA's 26th-rated offense and 26th-ranked 3-point shooting team, but a combination of defensive miscues and tough shot-making led to those torrid splits.
3. D'Angelo Russell contributed plenty of the latter, pouring in 16 first-half points on 5-for-6 shooting, 2-for-3 from behind the arc. The Timberwolves' bench, as a unit, made their first nine field goal attempts and had 34 points at the half. Fitting for a team that entered play ranked fifth in the NBA in bench points per game, averaging 39.3.
4. The Bulls' reserves scored 26 points behind Daniel Theis, who notched 10 points (including two 3-pointers), four rebounds, two assists and two steals through two quarters.
5. Also central to the Bulls' defensive woes: A glaring free-throw disparity. At half, the Timberwolves were 14-for-14 from the foul line, while the Bulls were 3-for-4. By night's end: Minnesota was a perfect 25-for-25, the Bulls 8-for-13.
That's been a bugaboo for the Bulls all year long -- they entered play dead last in free-throw attempt rate and 19th in opponent free-throw attempt rate.
6. The Bulls had some nice moments defensively early in the third, when they forged an 11-4 run to pull within a four-point deficit. Ricky Rubio quickly quelled that spurt with three 3-pointers -- he finished the night 5-for-6, despite entering play 27.9 percent from long range -- but a 13-6 Bulls run to close the quarter made it 91-87 Timberwolves entering the fourth.
7. Zach LaVine scored 14 of his 30 points in the third quarter (shooting 6-for-10) to lead the Bulls. He also tallied six assists. But a teetering miss on an and-one free-throw down 119-117 with 11.3 seconds to play looms large.
8. That early hot shooting by the Timberwolves did, indeed, regress. They shot 6-for-17 from deep in the second half, though they still finished with 121 points and near-50 percent shooting, a testament to the Bulls' continued struggles on the defensive end.
9. And they got big buckets down the stretch when they needed them, separating from the Bulls after the two traded blows in the early part of the fourth. Russell scored nine of his ultimate 27 points in the final frame, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 12.
10. Anthony Edwards has been the center of highlight-reel plays all season, but it was Towns with the dunk(s) of the night:
Towns also dished eight assists -- building on already-gaudy five dime per game average since Chris Finch took over as head coach in February -- and notched 27 points and 12 rebounds, including some massive scores and game-icing free throws (where he shot 8-for-8) in the fourth. He dominated the individual matchup with Nikola Vučević, who did, to be fair, finish with a respectable 18 points (7-for-13 shooting), five rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
11. Troy Brown Jr. continued to impress, stuffing the stat sheet with 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal, while shooting 6-for-7 and 3-for-3 from behind the arc. He earned his 22 minutes, and closed the game alongside LaVine, Coby White, Vučević (before Williams subbed him uber-late) and Daniel Theis, who received run over Thad Young at the power forward spot.
12. After logging four minutes in the Pacers blowout, then back-to-back DNPs, Denzel Valentine re-entered the rotation for TK minutes. He was quiet in seven first-half minutes, but made a 3 and handed out an assist early in the fourth -- the last of a ten-man rotation.
13. Lauri Markkanen got off to a hot start with two first-quarter 3s, but finished with just 19 minutes and four field-goal attempts. His playing time continues to shrink as a reserve.
14. The Bulls: assisted on 30 of their field goals, building on their league-leading average of 28.9 per game since trade deadline. They placed six in double-figures.
15. The Timberwolves, though, placed five players above the 15-point threshold and won the bench scoring battle 52-50.
16. The Bulls are now 10-18 in "clutch" games, defined by NBA.com as within a five-point margin with five minutes or less to play. Though winning teams have been their kryponite, this is a bad loss to a Timberwolves team with the NBA's worst record.
17. Standings update: The Pacers won, widening their lead over the Bulls for the ninth seed to three games. We'll update, but if the Raptors eek out a win over the Knicks (still ongoing), the Bulls would lead them by just one game for the 11th spot.
Up next: At the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday for the back end of a back-to-back.
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