Thursday night’s game between the Chicago Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves will feature two teams that are among the top five in the NBA in average 3-point attempts per game.
Minnesota, however, is also known for its depth in another way. “I’m lucky,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “I have eight starters. Really spoiled for choice there.”
The Timberwolves’ top eight players all played between 21 and 30 minutes in their 114-93 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
This depth has become a luxury for the Timberwolves, even though it has been partly due to some inconsistency with the starting lineup.
“Early part of the season as coach, you’re not sure what to trust about your team yet,” Finch said. “You know what’s in them, but you have to see it all the time to really trust it. But that was our most sustained effort.”
A 13-2 run early in the second quarter helped Minnesota create enough of a lead to allow their first-round draft picks, Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr., to make their home debuts in the fourth quarter.
Naz Reid led Minnesota with 25 points and nine rebounds, just missing a double-double.
“I think the beautiful thing about him is he can get it off the board, push it himself, so you can just take off, get to the corners, and he’s going to find you,” teammate Donte DiVincenzo said. “He also can score the bucket better than a lot of other people.”
Thanks to Reid’s 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range, the Timberwolves made 18 of 38 shots from beyond the arc. Anthony Edwards added four 3-pointers and finished with 21 points.
Chicago is coming off three straight losses after winning three of the first five games of the season. The Bulls lost 119-99 to the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
The Timberwolves may be just what Chicago needs. The Bulls have won seven of the last 10 matchups with Minnesota, averaging 125.4 points per game in their last five meetings. Chicago enters Thursday’s game with a three-game winning streak against the Timberwolves and has won five straight games at home at the United Center.
Bulls leading scorer Zach LaVine missed the game against Dallas due to a right adductor strain, marking his second straight game out. Chicago committed 23 turnovers in the loss, which led to 28 points for the Mavericks.
Nikola Vucevic had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double in eight games. Rookie Matas Buzelis also had career highs of 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Bulls were down by as much as 30 points late in the fourth quarter. Vucevic said this week that the Bulls are “not where we need to be (defensively) to win games” and are struggling to “get stops consistently.”
Reserve guard Lonzo Ball is still out with a sprained right wrist. Chicago was set to re-evaluate him on Thursday, but coach Billy Donovan said there’s no timeline for his return, as Ball is still wearing a splint. Donovan added that the Bulls “dodged a bullet” with the injury.
