After the big win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves hit the road again for another one-game road trip, this time against the Chicago Bulls.

This past game, the Wolves did a good job of containing LaMelo Ball, holding him to 19 points on 6-15 shooting. The Bulls present a similar matchup with Coby White. Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch spoke before the game about how to best defend guards like Ball and White.

“Well, you gotta go back and play for you. I mean, they’re both very dynamic in the open four. Shoot from everywhere, shoot from deep. Personally, I think (White) is one of the most underrated players in the league.”

Chicago has a recent history of making a ton of three-point shots against Minnesota. Dating back to the 2021-2022 season, the Bulls are 80-173 (46.2%) on three-point shots against the Wolves. That trend would continue into this game as the Bulls would make six of their first seven attempts from deep, jumping out to a 34-28 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With the Wolves potentially looking for a defensive spark, Josh Minott got some early playing time in the first half, playing nearly three minutes in the first quarter.

Chicago’s strong shooting would continue into the second quarter as they were consistently able to generate open looks from beyond the arc and build a 12-point lead early in the period, leading to a timeout in Minnesota.

Chicago would finish shooting 60 percent from the floor and 58.8 percent from long range the first time down, giving them a 65-56 lead at halftime. Nikola Vucevic led the way for Chicago with 13 points.

Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards did most of the offense for the Wolves, scoring 14 and 13 points respectively, with each player having an identical 6-12 shooting line from the floor. They also each made one of their three three-point attempts.

The Wolves defense would get some stops early in the second half, allowing them to take Chicago’s lead on this nice alley-oop from Mike Conley to Rudy Gobert.

That Bulls five-point lead would last for the rest of the quarter as they led 95-90 heading into the final frame of basketball.

Donte DiVincenzo would warm up to start the fourth quarter and hit two three-pointers to cut the Bulls lead to three.

The Wolves would continue to wear down the Bulls, who played the Dallas Mavericks last night, as they would eventually take the lead with just under seven minutes remaining, their first lead since the score was 3-0.

That would lead to an all-too-familiar scoring surge from Edwards, who would hit back-to-back 3-pointers, including this pull-up in transition, to put the Wolves up by seven.

The Timberwolves’ lead would only grow from there as they would end the fourth quarter with a 45-24 lead, giving them a 135-119 victory in Chicago.

Edwards led the way for the Wolves with 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Randle scored 22 points with ten rebounds and three assists. Gobert was the third Wolves player with 20 or more points, scoring 21 along with nine rebounds and three assists.

Vucevic led the way for the Bulls with 25 points on 11-15 shooting. White was next in line for Chicago with 24 points of his own

Key takeaway

Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn images

Three quarters of the defensive battle

Through the first three quarters of this game, it seemed like the Wolves defense was completely lost in how to deal with Chicago’s offense. The Bulls had scored 95 points, including 16 made three-pointers on just 28 attempts.

They let Chicago get anywhere they wanted on the field, which is especially concerning for a Timberwolves team that ranked well above all other teams in defensive rating last season.

Finch spoke on stage after the match about what went wrong with the defense in the first half of the match.

“They were a hot-shooting team and they got hot. They looked at us very well in the first half. I think they had 20 assists at halftime, so we had to get those assists out of the game somehow.”

Finch would continue what he believed was a change in the fourth quarter, allowing the Timberwolves to limit Chicago to just 24 points scored.

Taking the threes out of the game. That’s what they do. They will try in all kinds of ways to get 50 per night. You have to go back, you have to guard them one on one.’

Conley added to that in the locker room after the game, talking about the defensive change the Wolves made in the locker room at halftime to limit the Bulls’ three-pointers by not assisting shooters.

“Honestly, we started playing guys one-on-one. We stopped helping at the edge. We stopped helping on car rides. Because they knocked everything over when they hit the ball. Got deep penetration and kicked out to open up the shooters. So the first half it helped a lot more. In the second half we just stayed at home a little more. And eventually they started missing some. And we were able to capitalize.”

With the roster change this late in the season, the Wolves are still looking to find some of the same defensive strategy and intensity as last year. For much of this game, it was frustrating to watch a Bulls team that had struggled to score carve up the Wolves.

After the game, Gobert talked about how close he thinks the Wolves are to playing 48 minutes of great defense.

“I think the way we start games means we have to be better in the first half. Every time we sit down at halftime, we say, let’s start guarding. Hopefully we’ll have those conversations before the game.”

The hope is that what the Wolves showed defensively in the fourth quarter will be much more emblematic of who they are moving forward as they look to regain the defensive dominance they had a year ago.

Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn images

Ant dominates the fourth quarter

The Timberwolves battled and scratched offensively all night to keep pace with a Chicago team that wouldn’t stop scoring the ball. After being down by as many as 13 points, the Wolves were finally able to take the lead with less than seven minutes left in the game, their first lead since the opening minute of the game.

Once the Wolves took the lead, Edwards came through and closed the door on the Bulls by scoring 13 of his 33 points, while also adding two assists, in less than five minutes, to cut the Wolves’ lead from just one to enlarge. to 17 before the Bulls waved the white flag.

Ant has shown many times this season that he can close out games when Wolves need someone to put the game aside. He did that earlier this year against the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets and again tonight in Chicago.

Edwards spoke in the locker room after the game about his mentality, both for this Wolves team and for his future career.

“I don’t want to be a team that goes to the playoffs a few times and then doesn’t go back. Or went to the WCF and won’t go back. I don’t want to be that guy who had a moment.

Ant also explained why the defense struggles so much, especially early in games or when they are ahead.

“I don’t know if we’ll be cramped or cold or what it is. Because I have no excuse. I don’t know why I don’t play defense early in the game. But I am also part of it. We all just have to get better.”

As is the case with almost every NBA team, the Timberwolves will go as far as Ant can take them. Last year he was able to take them to their first Western Conference Finals in 20 years. If he continues to play like he did in the fourth quarter tonight in Chicago, the sky is the limit for him and this Wolves team.

United Center House of Horrors

The Timberwolves have found it very difficult to find wins at the United Center in recent years. Tonight was Minnesota’s first road win against Chicago since December 26, 2018, snapping a five-game losing streak in the Windy City.

Early on, it started to be a similar story to many of the other trips to Chicago, as the Bulls hit ten of their first fifteen shots from long range, building their lead to as much as 13 points.

The Wolves could break that cycle by limiting the Bulls to just five makes from beyond the arc, finally limiting Chicago’s shooters for the first time in seemingly four seasons.

There are still aspects of the Wolves defense to worry about, including the 65 points given up in the first half, but for a team still searching for its identity in rhythm, every win, especially on the road, invaluable.

Next

The Timberwolves return home from their one-game sabbatical to the Windy City to take on the Portland Trail Blazers at Target Center. The match kicks off at 8:00 PM CT and will air on FanDuel Sports Network North.

It will be the first of three games against the Trail Blazers, with the two playing each other on back-to-back nights following the Wolves’ game against the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Highlights of the game