Wolves force OT with late push, but fall 133-126 to Bulls in Chicago
CHICAGO – Timberwolves coach Chris Finch has said he wants to get the ball to Karl-Anthony Towns as much as possible on the offensive end of the floor.
When asked Tuesday what needs to happen for the Wolves to be better in late-game situations, rookie Anthony Edwards just shook his head and said, "Put the ball in Kat's hands."
However, because Towns had fouled out late in the fourth quarter, the Wolves didn't have that luxury in overtime Wednesday night against Chicago.
It didn't exactly go great.
After an odd finish to regulation, the Bulls pulled away against the Towns-less Wolves in overtime to claim a 133-126 victory.
Former Wolves guard and newly-minted All-Star Zach LaVine showed why he earned that distinction with 35 to lead the Bulls, who scored the first seven points of the extra session to pull away in a game it had led most of the second half. Malik Beasley had 25 for the Wolves.
The game only got to overtime because of a curious string of events.
In the fourth quarter, the Wolves had the ball down 117-116 following a timeout with 35.9 seconds remaining and they tried for a quick shot from Towns to execute a two-for-one, but Towns missed a jumper with 31.4 seconds remaining. After their own timeout, the Bulls got the ball to LaVine.
Towns and Malik Beasley had trapped LaVine near the sideline, but officials ruled Towns fouled LaVine, ending his night with 24 points and eight rebounds. The foul also meant the Wolves had to send the Bulls to the free-throw line to extend the game instead of defending straight up. Tomas Satoransky then hit a pair of free throws to put the Bulls up 119-116 with 9.8 seconds left.
Towns, who disagreed with the call, watched from the bench as the game took another unusual twist. On the Wolves' final possession of regulation, Ricky Rubio heaved one at the basket from three-point range and somehow drew a foul on Coby White with 4.9 seconds left — perhaps as a makeup call for the foul on Towns. Rubio hit all three free throws to send the game to overtime. The Wolves never got within one possession after the Bulls scored the first seven.
After Milwaukee did whatever it wanted offensively against the Wolves on Tuesday night, Finch wanted to see more physicality out of his group Wednesday. But Wednesday started much the same way Tuesday did — the offense was fine, the defense could still use some work.
Jarred Vanderbilt hustled his way around the floor for nine points, three rebounds and two steals during his first shift of the night, and that enabled the Wolves to lead most of the quarter.
It was a good thing the Wolves were hitting and Vanderbilt was hustling early because the Wolves defense provided little resistance as Chicago shot 14 of 20 in the quarter. LaVine had 10 points as Chicago trailed 34-32 after one.
The game flipped in the second as Chicago again kept attacking the Wolves futile defense and the Wolves' bench unit went 2 of 9 in the opening 4 minutes, 33 seconds of the quarter. Chicago pulled ahead 44-38 by that time. Towns would re-enter the game shortly thereafter, but he committed two offensive fouls on consecutive possessions, which meant he had three for the game, which meant he sat the rest of the half.
Satoransky beat the buzzer to put the Bulls ahead 68-58 at the half.
Beasley helped lead a charge back after the Wolves fell behind by 14 in the third. During a 12-2 run, Beasley scored eight points as the Wolves closed the gap 74-70.
The Wolves' bench put in some better minutes to start the fourth than it did to start the second quarter and after a nice pass from Jordan McLaughlin to Jaylen Nowell for a layup and a rebound putback from Josh Okogie, the Wolves were down just 98-97 with 8:59 to play. The Bulls led 113-103 before Beasley cut into that again with a pair of threes with 3:30 to play to set up the topsy-turvy finish.
