Chicago Bulls: Love/hate list from the ugly win over the T-Wolves

The Chicago Bulls eked out an ugly win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the United Center tonight. Here are some things I loved and some things I hated from the win.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Chicago Bulls did what they needed to do in order to get a win tonight at home against a struggling Minnesota Timberwolves squad. Chicago played well right out of the gates, but a dominant performance from Karl-Anthony Towns and a second-half surge from Andrew Wiggins nearly stole the win from Zach LaVine and Co.

Here’s the love/hate list from the ugly win.

Love – Mobile Markkanen

It’s not rocket science. Lauri Markkanen is a really good basketball player when he’s moving off the ball and actively looking for his shot. When he turns into a stand-still shooter, he’s no better than your average role player.

Tonight, the Bulls did a better job of getting Markkanen on the move than they have been in recent games. And guess what! He scored 21 points and grabbed six boards! Crazy how that works, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, only four of Markkanen’s 14 field goal attempts were 2-pointers. He still needs to do a better job of getting in the paint. But hey, progress is progress!

Hate – The disappearance of Tomas Satoransky

In order for the Bulls to reach their full potential as a team, they need Tomas Satoransky to be scoring the ball at a decent rate. They don’t need him to be James Harden, but they at least need him to be a threat with the ball in his hands.

Satoransky was bad tonight. He scored two points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field in 22 minutes of action. That’s the fourth straight game that he’s failed to score in double digits.

Love – Chandler Hutchison being useful

The Bulls’ lack of talent at the small forward position is glaringly obvious, but Chandler Hutchison has been stepping up his play as of late.

Hutch was huge for the Bulls tonight. He gave them 21 solid minutes of energy off the bench, scoring nine points, grabbing six rebounds and stealing the ball three times.

Chandler has made at least three field goals in four of his last five games. That shouldn’t mean much, but it does with Hutch. He looks like he’s gaining confidence.

Hate – Letting the Wolves climb back into the game

Midway through the second quarter, the Bulls were up 49-30 and the Wolves looked lifeless. The game should’ve been over right then and there, but once again, the Bulls struggled to smell blood. They took their foot off the gas pedal and let the Wolves come incredibly close to stealing the game.

Part of the comeback was thanks to Wiggins’ stellar second-half performance after sleeping through the first half, but part of it was because the Bulls’ offense got stagnant. There wasn’t nearly enough off-ball action or movement in general. The offense turned into isolation and hoping for the best.

Thankfully, Zach LaVine came up big down the stretch and helped secure the win for the Bulls. In the future, though, Chicago needs to do a better job of stepping on the throat of their opponent.

Love – Coby White getting shifty

We know Coby White has microwave potential from deep. He’s proved that multiple times this season. What I want to see more of, though, is Coby finding efficient ways to score in the paint. Tonight, he did a nice job of that.

Coby’s quickness is electrifying. When he pairs that quickness with a series of hesitations or shifty maneuvers in the paint, it’s really hard to stay in front of him.

White went 1-for-4 from 3-point range tonight but 4-for-8 from inside the arc. You love to see it!

The Bulls will look to make it two wins in a row at the United Center on Friday night when the Kings come to town.