CHICAGO – Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu took the ball right past D'Angelo Russell and dribbled about 30 feet for an easy layup in the third quarter of the Timberwolves' 134-122 loss to Chicago.
An animated coach Chris Finch called timeout, came out to meet Russell and pointed to where Dosunmu had left Russell in the dust as if to say, "What was that?"
The Wolves' defense has been a point of contention over the last few weeks, even as the team has kept winning sometimes despite its effort at that end of the floor.
Maybe the Wolves need rest, but there are still games to play before the All-Star break, and the trip to Chicago didn't fix their defensive issues.
The Bulls shot 63% and sprinted to a win with a 42-point fourth quarter after the Wolves trailed by just one entering it. DeMar DeRozan took over early in the fourth and scored 35. Coby White hit six 3-pointers on his way to 22 points and the Wolves just couldn't keep up. The Bulls had four players finish with over 20 points as Nikola Vucevic added 26 and Javonte Green had 23.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while Anthony Edwards had 31 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
The Wolves got back to forcing turnovers early. But when the Bulls weren't being careless with the ball, they were hitting their shots more often than not.
With the bevy of scoring options the Bulls have in their starting lineup the Wolves made a decision to help off Green, and Green made them pay early. He shot 6 of 7 for 15 points in the first half. The Wolves got off to a slow start shooting from 3-point range and were 1 for 12 to start the game. The only thing keeping them in it was their ability to create turnovers and get some easy buckets in transition.
Edwards started slow — 1 for 5 — but after that he picked up his effort and intensity. He sliced through the defense whenever he wanted and led the Wolves back through the end of the first quarter and into the second. Chicago led by as much as eight, 23-15, before Edwards got going and the game got tighter. He was 4 for 5 for 11 points in the second quarter and finished with 19 in the first half.
An Edwards burst of creativity in the latter half of the second quarter gave the Wolves a 56-53 lead with 1 minute, 40 seconds to play before the Bulls made a late push to take a 60-59 lead at halftime.
The Bulls shot 58% for the half while the Wolves were at 46%. Jaden McDaniels provided a scoring lift off the bench early in the second with nine points on 4-for-8 shooting while some of his benchmates had trouble getting going.
Edwards picked up where he left off early in the third quarter, but the Bulls had a revamped focus on him defensively, and as the quarter went on he struggled. He finished the third with five points and five assists but added four turnovers.
The Wolves built an 89-84 lead late in the quarter but relinquished it thanks to a pair of White 3s that gave the Bulls a 92-91 lead headed into the fourth, which was DeRozan's time. He ignited a strong finish for the Bulls, White continued his hot 3-point shooting and before they knew it, the Wolves were down double digits on their way to their second consecutive loss.
