Chicago Bulls start out hot, but run out of gas in Minnesota

The continuously tanking Chicago Bulls took an early lead at half, but were severely outplayed in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game after the Minnesota Timberwolves found a scoring rhythm late.

The Chicago Bulls played with excitement and passion throughout the first three quarters in Minnesota, but that energy completely died out late in the game.

Even with Jimmy Butler out of the lineup with a meniscus injury, the Bulls luck against Minnesota ran out Saturday night after a 122-104 loss on the road in Minneapolis. Bulls’ new dynamic duo of Zach LaVine and David Nwaba showed plenty of promise after taking an early lead at the end of the first half. Timberwolves simply put on a scoring clinic late in this game to secure the victory.

Seven players on the Bulls finished in double figures, including a 21-point showing from LaVine. Solid performances from Nwaba and Bobby Portis were among the bright takeaways from this game. Nwaba fell just short of a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds, while Portis scored an efficient 15 points.

We all knew Lauri Markkanen was in a slump, but he put up an absolute dud tonight. Markkanen was nowhere to be found in this game after finishing with 3 points, and being held scoreless through an entire first half of basketball. This was not a bad thing for the Bulls, who are blatantly trying to tank their way to a better lottery pick.

Important Highlights from the Loss

Timberwolves were on a mission to show that they can succeed without Butler in the lineup, and they made the Bulls’ defense pay.

 Cristiano Felicio and Cameron Payne both scored 11 points. It wasn’t pretty to any extent, and Payne again looked extremely frustrated on multiple different occasions, but at least they had some type of court presence. Felicio even threw down a hard dunk in the first half.

Other important takeaways from the game included some assurance that LaVine is still a beast who can score at a rapid pace and make plays as a facilitator on the court. He had nine assists and showed the Timberwolves what they are missing after trading him to Chicago.

Finally, Noah Vonleh looks like a good investment for the Bulls. He showed some efficiency Saturday night, and the former lottery pick had eight points on 3-4 shooting and six rebounds in 14 minutes of play. Vonleh also proved he has range and can shoot threes. The tank could help players like him showcase their true talents late in the season.

Why the Bulls Lost Saturday Night

The Bulls were destined to lose this game tonight after choosing to rest key players Justin Holiday and Robin Lopez for the second straight game.

The team showed snippets of solid team chemistry throughout this game, but they simply couldn’t stop some of Minnesota’s best players after leading 62-60 at halftime.

The Bulls had no answer on defense for point guard Jeff Teague, who easily worked his way around Chicago’s porous fourth quarter defense and scored 25 points. After getting shut down in the first half Karl-Anthony Towns finished with a 22-point double-double, and Andrew Wiggins added 23 points on the night.

Taj Gibson was a man on a mission against the Bulls, and he even shocked Portis with a skilled post move during his double-double performance with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulls also let Jamal Crawford get hot in the second half, which proved to be a huge mistake. The veteran had 19 points and five three-pointers.

Tank Moves

Knowing that Portis was extremely hot coming off a 38-point game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Bulls chose to give Bobby a meager 20 minutes of playing time in Minnesota. If you think that’s bad, the team chose to play Jerian Grant for three total minutes. Yes, three minutes. This is some serious fuel for the Bulls’ tank.

Thibodeau’s Grudge

Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau did exactly what the basketball world expected him to do tonight: overwork his star players and beat the Bulls as badly as possible to get revenge for a multitude of different reasons.

The Bulls’ next game will be against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. The Nets are currently a game and a half worse than the Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings, so this is an important one for both teams.