Thursday night’s matchup between the host Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves will pit two teams in the top five in the NBA in average 3-point attempts per game.
Minnesota is familiar with another kind of depth, as well.
“I’m lucky,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “I have eight starters. Really spoiled for choice there.”
Indeed, the top eight players in the Minnesota rotation played between 21 and 30 minutes during Monday’s 114-93 home victory against the Charlotte Hornets.
While that transpired in part due to inconsistency with the starting five, it’s a reality that is developing into a luxury for the Timberwolves.
“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 the Timberwolves begin to create enough distance to pave the way for first-round draft picks Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. to make their home debuts in the fourth.
Naz Reid flirted with a double-double to lead Minnesota, contributing 25 points and nine rebounds.
“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.”
Sparked by Reid’s 5-for-7 effort from beyond the arc, the Timberwolves shot 18-for-38 from long range. Anthony Edwards connected on four triples en route to 21 points.
Chicago has lost three straight games after winning three of five to start the season.
The Bulls are coming off a 119-99 road loss to the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
Perhaps the Timberwolves will offer a salve. Chicago has won seven of its last 10 games against Minnesota while averaging 125.4 points in the past five contests. The Bulls enter Thursday’s game with a three-game winning streak overall against Minnesota and boast five straight victories at United Center.
Bulls leading scorer Zach LaVine didn’t play against Dallas, missing his second game in a row with a right adductor strain.
Chicago committed 23 turnovers that contributed 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, meanwhile, had career highs of 13 points and nine boards.
The Bulls trailed by as many as 30 points late in the fourth quarter.
Vucevic said this week the Bulls are “not where we need to be (defensively) to win games” as the team struggles to “get stops consistently.”
Reserve guard Lonzo Ball remains sidelined with a sprained right wrist. Chicago was set to re-evaluate Ball on Thursday, but coach Billy Donovan said there’s no timetable for his return with Ball still in a splint. Donovan said the Bulls “dodged a bullet” with the injury.
