Bulls 133, Timberwolves 126: Only Bulls and Wolves in OT, No KATs

Karl-Anthony Towns said earlier this season: “Rome was not built in a day.“

Well, today was technically day 2.

I think it’s the third day, if you’re including his first day at work, but you get the point. You are smarter than me. It was clear that the offensive is buzzing with coach Chris Finch at the helm. The Wolves have averaged 115.5 points in regulation so far and (re) incorporating KAT as the main option, unsurprisingly, was the reason. Of course, the defense would be lacking, but that was more what we expected to see when Gersson Rosas first set up this Timberwolves iteration.

So what happens when you take the KAT out of the game?

What happens when you take the head off a chicken? When you take off a chicken’s legs. The heart away from a chicken (I really didn’t have to go that deep with chicken mutilation here, dammit) You have the offensive nightmare that were our 20-year games without it. As Coach Finch mentioned in the post-game presser, it was clearly disheartening to see our team fall apart without him. If he had not committed 3 fouls relatively early in the first half and was on the court for extra time, I am absolutely certain that we would have strangled the Bulls. He was a team, and I play, high +12 in a 7 point defeat.

Coach Finch, or KAT, believes their apparent selection problems are real. Whether that’s the case or not, I have to keep hitting the “KAT is so mature and hardly complains about fouls now“Drum. He gave a long and well thought out answer that I did my best to transcribe briefly:

This is easy to say and, as KAT has always said, it will be more a matter of action than conversation. I think the biggest development this season was the growth of KAT and from what we’ve seen and heard so far, I think it’s a huge success. I’m really proud of this cat, really.

As for the game?

The game looked promising after the hint. Just as our own Mike O’Hagen mentioned in his preview of the game, Anthony Edwards attacked the painting without a threatening edge protector to deal with. The Wolves would start 7-0 quickly, but it would be short lived. Former wolves legends Zach LaVine and Thaddeus Young scored half of the Bulls’ points (16) in the first quarter, which would be a harbinger of the coming attack. LaVine in particular would continue to terrorize Minnesota with a total of 35 points.

Despite this, there was not much defense being played by either team. In the first quarter alone, the Wolves would give up 32 points in 70% (!) Of pitches, while placing 34 points in 59.1% of pitches. This trend would continue only for the Bulls, as a JMac / Nowell / Okogie / Big Mac / Naz bank unit really hurt the Wolves for the rest of the game. Clearly still trying to figure out the roles, they gave up on a 12-2 scoring sequence that was ended by Billy Donovan, who asked for a break because he felt bad for the Wolves. What a nice guy!

The Wolves would respond by reinserting some of their starters, triggering a 6-0 run crowned by an unusual LaVine technique due to a call obviously missed by the stripes.

At one end of the court, the wolves seemed to have a ton of 1-and-dones, raising 3s as if they knew they weren’t in the rhythm to beat the record they set yesterday. At the other end, the wolves seemed to be stapling a sign on the holder that said “FREE PAINTING BUCKS, GET E-1”. With the mediocre ink protector, Towns, out of the game, the Bulls cunningly attacked the poor ink protector, Naz Reid, over and over again with great success. The Bulls’ lead increased to 68-58 going into the break, while still shooting more than 60% (40 PIP), while the Wolves decreased to 48.9%.

The wolves would finally wake up in the second half. Both KAT and Malik would warm up to make the game competitive again. Most notably, Jarred Vanderbilt would continue his effective game from the first half. He was a plague on the boards while making all the little moves to help keep the wolves there.

The wolves came close to 1 several times (3) in the final period, but they just couldn’t finish the job to really get back on track. Missed an open layout. A missed an open leap. Premature turnover. A premature defensive breakdown. even though all addition, the bulls would still leave the door ajar for the wolves to pass. Ant would hit Sam Cassell 3’s big-cajones to pull the wolves to just 1 with less than a minute left.

This time, the Wolves did not allow LaVine to defeat them by doubling him up, challenging Wendall Carter Jr. to shoot in an open corner 3. Miss, timeout and then an elaborate move for Towns in the left elbow. Looking at Carter Jr., Towns would have a good look at a 14-foot car that would barely come out. If that wasn’t the game, then he accidentally failed on the next move to push the deficit to 3 with the remaining 9.8 should have been.

If I could have prayed for someone to make a move to tie the game, who do you think it would be?

The extra time would be exactly as you would expect it to be without KAT. The Wolves immediately gave up 7 points without an answer and the game would never be played again. The attack was totally anemic, while the defense was left aimless, looking tired during overtime at the end of a back-to-back. Ant would keep the game’s score respectable with 5 points from the rebates, but that was all Minnesota got.

So, as mentioned at the beginning of this recap, although the attack appears to be really effective, defense is still the obvious issue. Either Dame is right, or David Vanterpool is no good, or the players just can’t do it. It is one of those 3, but probably a mix of them all.

We’ll see if things change when the Wolves finally get a much needed 2-day break. It will be the first since January 16. Ufa.

Full game highlights

Game notes

• JC didn’t get up tonight. Before the game, Chris Finch mentioned that he would have 15 minutes of action, but there must have been an apparent setback during the shootaround, as he would be seen on the bench during the warm-ups. Hopefully Jarrett Culver will be back on Saturday against the Wizards.
• Vando was absolutely incredible today. It looked like he hurt his right hand / arm while trying to chase a tray of Coby White in the OT, but luckily he said he was fine. V8, a nickname that Jim Pete mentioned in the broadcast, had a series of classic Hustle pieces tonight. He finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 4 steals. Most importantly, he shot 6/7 of the charity crew.

• The ant started to heat up, disappeared and resurfaced at the end of the game tonight. If we can get that kind of general production from him and Malik Beasley’s continuous hot shot going, then we will win many more games. Edwards finished with 21 points (3 threesomes), 9 rebounds (high career), 6 assists (high career) and 2 steals. Beasley finished with 25 points (5 threesomes)
• Jaden McDaniels, who had an up and down performance tonight, had just 16 minutes of cut time. However, only 5 of them play in the second half and less than 1 in overtime. Obviously, playing well in the V8 probably had to do with it tonight, but I asked Coach Finch about it in the post-game presser:

• Bulls MPE goes to Tomas Satoransky, who had a variety of buckets fit for Chicago all night. As JPete mentioned in the broadcast, he was also starting to piss me off a lot. He finished with 16 points, 5 points, 4 assists, all with 85.7% of pitches.
• I’m happy to see Zach LaVine dominate offensively so consistently. He’s really one of the good guys in the league and I’m glad he finally has the star recognition he deserves. I still had some point-LaVine PTSD flashbacks in this game, when he dribbled his leg a few times and launched some passes that were wide by several feet (7 TOs in total). I will never forget the story of when Zach was still at Wolves and there was one game in particular that Ricky was hearing from his own Minnesota fans. The story goes that as the crowd booed Ricky, Zach looked at one of the boo’ers and shouted “Shut up“for them. Classic.

• Have I incorporated enough of my own tweets?