Chicago Bulls: Lauri Markkanen eclipses Karl-Anthony Towns, T-Wolves

A good close out for the Chicago Bulls saw Lauri and LaVine top the Minnesota Timberwolves to hand them their seventh straight defeat.

Something about this win felt different. While head coach Jim Boylen and the Chicago Bulls by no means beat a team in the Minnesota Timberwolves that is a legitimate playoff contender in the Western Conference, but the confidence felt different down the stretch.

When the Bulls started to let up against two very talented players, including a true superstar, they didn’t let up and lose a lead late in the fourth quarter. Star Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns was hot against the Bulls on Jan. 22, but he and uber-athletic small forward Andrew Wiggins couldn’t come out on top when it was all said and done.

For once, shooting guard Zach LaVine and power forward Lauri Markkanen combined to beat another star duo that really pushed them late in the fourth quarter. Lauri was confident shooting from the field for most of the game, which also feels different for this Bulls fan base.

There’s a lot of words you could use to describe Markkanen’s 2019-20 regular season run so far, and confident is not even close to one of them.

In this 117-110 win over the Timberwolves at home at the United Center on Wednesday night, the Bulls saw Markkanen keep them afloat and LaVine close the game out. This is the type of play that the Bulls fan base anticipated from Markkanen and LaVine against teams like the Timberwolves throughout much of this season, but that just hasn’t come to fruition yet.

LaVine matched his number of points per game coming into the night, with 25 on 8-of-18 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. He also finished the night with five rebounds and just one assist.

Meanwhile, Markkanen rounded out with 21 points, six rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Markkanen was an efficient 6-of-14 from the field and 4-of-10 from downtown. He got going from the field and didn’t look back. There was less hesitation to pull the trigger when he had open looks than usual, which is a good sign.

The two best players for the Timberwolves in this game were KAT and Wiggins. Towns absolutely went off for a game-high 40 points, but he added just two assists. Wiggins had a solid night too with 25 points, five rebounds, nine assists, and one steal. Both shot better than 50 percent from the field tonight too.

With the seven-point win over the Timberwolves, the Bulls move their record on the season to 17-29. They now sit just three games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the eighth and final spot in the playoff picture in the East. The Bulls are also 0.5 games behind the Detroit Pistons in the standings.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves extend their losing streak to seven games. They are also 2-8 in their last 10 games and sit in 13th place in the Western Conference standings. The next two games don’t get any easier for Minnesota, as they host the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder in the following three days.

Up next for the Bulls is a Jan. 24 home showdown at the United Center against the Sacramento Kings, where Boylen could be looking for the season sweep in this series.