The Bulls are back.
Beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-115, the Bulls secured their third-straight win and improved to 22-22, the latest into a season they have been .500 since 2021-22.
Josh Giddey made his return to action after missing 11 games with a hamstring strain sustained against the Timberwolves on December 29. He came off the bench due to his 24-minute restriction — something Billy Donovan likes to do to shorten the game. He ended up playing 26.
Even in limited minutes, Giddey came out guns blazing. Scoring 18 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting, he didn’t miss a two-point shot, while attempting seven free throws, a primary beneficiary of the Wolves’ fouling. In the end, he finished with 21 points on 53.8 percent from the field.
The Wolves were overly aggressive defensively, going into the bonus during each of the first two quarters, putting the Bulls to the free-throw line 18 times in the first half and 33 total. The sensitive whistle clearly affected them. After going up by 14 in the first quarter, the Bulls took advantage of the free points at the line and added caution with which Anthony Edwards had to play, taking a brief lead towards the end of the half.
But the Wolves woke up in the fourth quarter, locking back in defensively and holding the Bulls to nearly five minutes without scoring. But the Bulls were able to fight back and win thanks to two clutch steals and a layup on an inbounds play to give the Bulls a late lead.
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Up next: On Saturday, the Bulls will host the Boston Celtics (27-16), who have hit their stride, climbing into second place in the East, despite missing Jayson Tatum all season.
4th in point differential (+7.5) on the season, the Celtics are second in offense and 13th in defense, but have been locked in on that end over the last two weeks, where they are holding teams to 109.5 points per 100 possessions (third). Jaylen Brown is having an All-NBA type season, Derrick White, despite his shooting woes, continues to be one of the best complementary pieces in the league, and they’ve gotten great contributions from Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons (who hit nine three-pointers against the Bulls in their previous matchup) as well as Neemias Queta.
30 minutes after the game, the Bulls will send Derrick Rose’s jersey into the rafters and honor him with videos and speeches from former teammates and coaches.
With Giddey returning, I was curious to know how his presence impacted Matas Buzelis‘ production.
According to pbpstats, Buzelis’ usage goes down 4.58 percent and his scoring goes down by three points per 100 possessions when he plays with Giddey. Though his shot quality remains the same, his true shooting percentage drops by 4.8 percent. This makes sense. Without Giddey, the Bulls need to generate more scoring chances across the board, and must put added responsibility onto Buzelis’ plate in order to do so. With Giddey on the court, he creates much less, but is more efficient. Without him, vice versa.
There aren’t any real surprises there — Buzelis has less opportunity to create with better shot creators on the floor. There are plenty of mistakes, turnovers and ugly possessions when Buzelis is responsible for getting a good shot for the team, but it’s not like he was completely unsuccessful. In the 11 games without him, he averaged 17.9 points with a 54.9 effective field goal percentage. Against the Timberwolves, with Giddey back in the lineup, Buzelis scored 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting, though much of his playing time came without Giddey to accommodate his minutes restriction.
This isn’t a knock on Giddey whatsoever, but it’s a trend that the Bulls should be seeking out ways to correct. At the start of the season, Arturas Karnisovas emphasized the importance of internal development, but Buzelis’s production has plateaued since the second half of last season. A short leash was good for him during his rookie year, but that now may be changing. The Bulls need to empower him to see what he can do with more chances without training wheels so that he can play through mistakes and take the next step as a scorer.
Welcome back, Giddey! I mentioned in our Plus-Minus segment on yesterday’s show that while the Bulls have been a poor free-throw rate team all season, they’ve been particularly bad in that department during his absence. Like, dead-last-in-the-league bad.
Giddey immediately looked to attack and draw fouls when he checked in off the bench. He went 6-for-7 at the line in 18 first-half minutes, setting the tone for the entire team. The Bulls had Edwards in early foul trouble and got to the free-throw line all night. Nitpick, they could’ve gotten there more. They had Minnesota in the penalty with tons of time left in multiple quarters.
Coby White’s shooting cooled a bit after consecutive games hitting 6, then 7 three pointers. But he also got to the free-throw line multiple times.
Shoutout Jalen Smith, who remained in the starting lineup against the Wolves’ size and Giddey coming off the bench in his first game back. Knocked down three more from downtown. Will he continue to start once the minutes limit comes off for Giddey, likely soon?
That fourth quarter scoring drought…nearly five minutes? A turnover out of a timeout? Not great execution down the stretch. Minnesota’s defense can clamp down better than anyone when it needs and wants to.
The Bulls showed a lot of toughness tonight against the Wolves. That is always good to see, especially on the road.
Josh Giddey, AKA Captain Crikey, was outstanding and the right type of energy the team needed tonight. Good to see the injury didn’t stop anything for him.
I’ve complained about the Bulls not getting to the line, and it being the difference between several wins and losses, but tonight they definitely got there and it kept them in the game for sure.
More. Matas. Buzelis.
The Bulls were resilient against a legit opponent. They deserve all the praise for the way they played.
— Big Dave
