Chicago Bulls end preseason with 113-112 loss to Minnesota Timberwolves
For the Chicago Bulls, preseason play came to an end in St. Louis’ Scottrade Center Friday night with a 113-112 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Bulls and Timberwolves were able to keep up with each other early on. Chicago held a 4-0 lead to start, but Minnesota quickly caught up. Ricky Rubio and Thaddeus Young got going offensively, and the Bulls were unable to stop them. To make matters worse, Chicago’s continuous turnovers helped Minnesota out even more by letting them run away with a lead.
By the end of the quarter, the Bulls committed nine turnovers. They were able to stay close behind the Timberwolves, but they were unable to get the necessary defensive stops in actually get back in the game, thus resulting in a 35-31 lead in favor of the Timberwolves.
Aaron Brooks and Tony Snell came off the bench to open the second quarter on a strong note. The backcourt duo scored 11 points in the first three minutes. Snell’s three actually gave Chicago the 42-41 lead, but it didn’t last long, as Anthony Bennett soon answered with a shot of his own. The Bulls stayed close, though.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau got his starters back in — with the exception of Taj Gibson for Pau Gasol — to close out the first half, and it paid off.
Kirk Hinrich found a cutting Mike Dunleavy for a hook shot that tied the game at 54. Derrick Rose then found Hinrich for a three to give Chicago the 57-54 lead. The Bulls took a timeout after that, but it didn’t stop their momentum.
Rose made a cut along the left baseline, received a pass from Joakim Noah and finished with a two-handed slam. On Chicago’s next possession, Hinrich went for a long, right-wing, pull-up jumper, made it, got fouled and completed a three-point play.
At this point, the Bulls held a 62-56 lead, their biggest lead of the night thus far, but they couldn’t maintain it.
Chicago only scored four points in the final two minutes in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Minnesota scored twice as many points in the same amount of time, resulting in a 64-64 tie at halftime.
That tie was a very brief one, though, as the Bulls got going right away once the third quarter got going.
The Bulls opened the quarter with a 5-0 run before the Timberwolves called a timeout at the 11:51 mark. Rose continued the comeback, adding nine more points in the remainder of the quarter.
More importantly, Chicago had their best defensive quarter, as Minnesota was limited to only 19 points, their lowest quarter total of the game. In fact, the Timberwolves’ field goal percentage went down from 57.5 percent (at halftime) to 48.4 (after the third), but they retaliated.
The Timberwolves made a comeback in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bulls 30-21. The trio of J.J. Barea, Anthony Bennett and Zach LaVine lead the way combining for 24 of the 30 points.
Chicago had its chance to reattain the lead, but shots just weren’t falling. Rose made a three to make it 111-109 in favor of Minnesota, and Dunleavy drained a long, right-wing three to make it 113-112. But, in the end, the Timberwolves’ comeback was too much.
Rose had another efficient game of 27 points (12-23 FG, 3-7 3PT), two rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes. Dunleavy was second in scoring at 17 points on 5-for-13 from the field and 3-for-8 on threes. Hinrich added 14 points as a starter (Jimmy Butler sat out again with a left thumb sprain).
Gibson came off the bench to contribute a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds while Joakim Noah had a near double-double of 17 rebounds and nine assists.
The Bulls ended preseason with a 4-4 record, and will open the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at the New York Knicks in a 7 p.m. central match-up.