With 6:47 left in the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves took a 107-106 lead, their first since early in the opening period. The Chicago Bulls were out in front almost the entire game and it looked like they may be able to steal one against a Western Conference finalist from last season.
That’s when Anthony Edwards then decided to close things out. Over the next 5:01, he scored all 13 of his fourth quarter, sending the game into garbage time with over a minute to spare.
The Wolves won it 135, 119. What had been a competitive game to that point had unraveled into a blowout.
“We just didn’t finish the job,” Nikola Vucevic said. “That’s a very good team, a team that’s playing for a championship. So it was to be expected for them to rise at the end. And we just couldn’t match it.”
The Wolves scored 45 points in the fourth quarter alone, beating the Bulls by 21 in the period.
Billy Donovan‘s diagnosis?
“I thought the turnovers, the live ball turnovers hurt us at times,” he said. “And then I thought the second chance opportunities, when we did get stops. But I think the thing was disappointing, there was opportunities to provide help, and we weren’t there when we needed to be there…that the fourth quarter, we just didn’t really have enough answers.”
The Wolves were able to manipulate matchups in the fourth quarter, dodging the Bulls attempts to guide him into help, instead rejecting the screens and getting downhill for uncontested layups.
The Bulls simply didn’t have any answers for Edwards, who delivered the dagger on a pull-up three over both Vucevic and Ayo Dosunmu.
Josh Giddey kept it real: “The start of that game, we feel like we’re playing the right way. Defense was good. We’re locked in on coverages and on scout. And it’s just too up-and-down. And I think we need to put string 48 minutes together, and then that’ll really see where we’re at as a defense collectively.”
“I think we have individual stretches and team stretches where we look great, but we have stretches where we look horrible.”
Following the game, the Bulls players pointed to careless turnovers, elite opposing players raising their level and the defense noting being where it needed to. And while those problems were real, the Bulls offense, which had a 131.9 offensive rating through three quarters, became anemic in the fourth. Their o-rating dropping to 96.0 in the frame.
“I think part of it was them scoring so much,” Vucevic said. “When you get the ball out of the net every time it was harder to run and get them in transition.”
The Wolves slowed the pace in the pre-garbage time fourth quarter down to 95.1, significantly slower than how the Bulls want to play. The Bulls lead the league in pace at 105.2 possessions per game and are at their best when they don’t have to go against a set defense.
That resulted in the Bulls going 1-of-8 from three during the period, despite making 14-of-28 through the first three quarters.
“They got a bit more physical,” Vucevic continued on. “We didn’t respond, but I still think we generate some pretty good looks. Just didn’t make them, so that hurts.”
The Bulls formula for winning games is different this season and while they have reformatted their shot profile and revamped their pace to close the talent gap that exists between them and a team like Minnesota. The Bulls showed they can hang if they can be more consistent.
“I thought we gave ourselves every chance to win this game that that that last six minutes, we probably let it slip too much,” Giddey said. “…Just gotta string 48 minutes together. But we love what we have in this locker room, and we think we’ve got enough to to be in games with teams like that. We absolutely do. We showed it tonight for probably 36 minutes of the game.”
