Carlos Boozer made the first shot of the game, giving the Bulls their only lead at 2-0. For the rest of the first half, Minnesota did their best to show it was their game. They forced turnovers, played tight defense and made the most of almost every opportunity. Remarkably, they led by only eight at halftime.
The playing field leveled out more in the second half as the Timberwolves cooled off. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they came up empty on many possessions, missing shot after shot and losing precious time to come back in the process. They never got the deficit to smaller than five the rest of the way. Whenever they had a chance to make it a one-possession game, it just didn't happen. An average shooting night would likely have brought the contest down to the final seconds, but here, the Bulls shot just 37.6 percent from the floor. Most teams will lose those games.
Love was as good as advertised, showing why he was voted to start this year's All-Star Game. Without Noah to guard him, he scored 31 points and made all 14 of his free throws, matching a career high. Even when Nikola Pekovic exited with an injured right Achilles' heel after only six minutes, Love did most of his damage in the first half. He plays basketball a way few big men in the league can. Whether it's by shooting, rebounding or defense, it's easy to see why he's become so popular.
Ronny Turiaf, who entered averaging just 2.3 points per game, suddenly caught fire by scoring 14 off the bench. Chase Budinger didn't start either, but put up 12. Even though Ricky Rubio dished out only four assists, J.J. Barea made up for that by totaling seven. This was a bench that came up big in a lot of areas, unlike that of the Bulls. More on that in a bit.
All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by 20 from Boozer, who also grabbed 14 rebounds in a game that saw him catch fire offensively in the second half after struggling mightily in the first. D.J. Augustin did well on offense too, totaling 19 points and six assists. Jimmy Butler carried the offense in the first half on his bobblehead night and finished with 16. Taj Gibson, starting for Noah, joined Boozer in the double-double club with a line of 10-10.
Those are all decent stats, but the problem lies with who was starting. Augustin and Gibson can be counted on for those lines on a routine basis. However, when they're forced into the first rotation, that drains the bench of its resources. It showed tonight as only 11 points, nine of which by Nazr Mohammed, came from that group. The Bulls pride themselves on being a deep group with the potential to spawn unexpected heroes at any given time. Still, we all saw what happens when they're stretched too thin when Hinrich and Luol Deng missed all of last year's playoff series with the Heat. Most of the time, talent wins out and it doesn't help when everyone is struggling to make up what's unavailable.
Noah's absence made clear one thing I haven't talked much about recently, but couldn't be truer. The Bulls have done just fine since trading Deng, defying the expectation that offense would suddenly be harder to come by. Take away Noah and you have a team that's just flailing about. That's not to say he would have made every single shot missed down the stretch tonight, but he would have taken away a lot of Minnesota's second chances that were pounced on. Offensively, the Bulls just flow better together with him. All this considered, Noah is the undisputed leader of this team, at least until Derrick Rose returns. Whoever doubts whether he should be an All-Star should look at tonight as well as what he's done recently. Without him, the Bulls are lost as far as identity and competitiveness.
This was the last game before the annual Disney on Ice trip, so the Bulls will have to find momentum elsewhere. It doesn't get easier either as they'll travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs on Wednesday. Hopefully, Noah will have gotten over whatever bug he's contracted and can at least make a game of it. Until then, enjoy the picture of tonight's giveaway I received.
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