Timberwolves again lean on offense to beat Bulls in Chicago

These aren’t your 2023-24 Minnesota Timberwolves.

Last year’s Wolves dominated teams defensively and sucked the life out of foes through that style of play. A couple five-minute stretches of endless stops and steals led to transition baskets on the other end, and usually led to curtains on the contest at some point.

These Wolves rely more on offense. They’ll score alongside you, hoping for segments of shot-making that you can’t match, and they’ll beat you that way.

Such was the case Thursday in Chicago.

Chicago exploded offensively Thursday. The Bulls shot 42% from 3-point range. The Bulls ran a layup lane through the paint for large segments of the game — and Minnesota won 135-119.

Anthony Edwards scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth frame, and Rudy Gobert added 11 in the fourth quarter as Minnesota scored 41 points in the first 10 minutes of the final frame before the regulars were pulled with the game well in hand.

“We picked up our energy throughout the game,” Gobert said in his postgame, television interview. “I love the way we were moving the ball in the fourth.”

While this Wolves team is not the same team that was dominant defensively — almost historically so — a year ago, they are well equipped to take advantage of sub-par defensive teams like Chicago. Minnesota buried 16 3-pointers while scoring 66 points in the paint. All five starters scored 14-plus points. Julius Randle had 22 points and 10 rebounds. Minnesota outrebounded Chicago 40-33.

The Bulls (3-6) — who were on a back-to-back and sans Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball — started the game red hot, hitting six of their first seven 3-point attempts. Nikola Vucevic finished with 25 points on 11-for-15 shooting. But Chicago went ice cold in the fourth, missing a number of good looks. Chicago scored just six points over a span that stretched nearly six minutes in the fourth.

That’s the bet Minnesota (5-3) can now make that it couldn’t in the past — it can hit shots at a more sustained rate than you can.

The Wolves are back in action Friday against Portland at Target Center.