Oh-vertime

As a general rule, I don't blog after non-playoff games I worked during unless a major event occurs.  It's a little difficult to actually tell what happened when I can't watch most of it.  So I was going to ignore Saturday's 102-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in which the Bulls failed to score in overtime for the first time ever.  But in this case, the following text message from my cousin Michael in St. Paul prompted me otherwise:

[Andrew] Wiggins and [Karl-Anthony] Towns looked good.  Big win for those young kids.  I look forward to reading your blog post on this one.

With my hand forced, I really couldn't avoid the reality of the situation.  Wiggins (31 points) outplayed both Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler (11 points each, 7-of-28 from the field combined) and Towns (17 points, 13 rebounds) proved a formidable for Pau Gasol (21 and 14).  Ricky Rubio keeps improving and if you ask me, the Timberwolves should ditch the nostalgia goggles and have rookie Nemanja Bjelica start for Kevin Garnett.  "Those young kids" are going to make some real noise in the NBA before long.

But "before long" is not yet here and there's the recurring problem for the Bulls.  They hang tough to beat Cleveland and Oklahoma City, but forget who they're playing with Detroit, Charlotte and Minnesota.  This happened a lot last year with, surprise surprise, virtually the same personnel.  You know, the group that had very little turnover during the season?

And I get that the long ball is an integral part of Hoiball, but you can't have the whole team transform into last year's version of Rose.  Butler and Nikola Mirotic shot a collective 0-for-12 from 3-point land and seven of the Bulls' nine shots in overtime came from there.  Maybe this is part of the adjustment period, but man, is it frustrating to watch.  Even second chances on those possessions are going to waste because they either try the long ball again or miss easy putbacks.

Blame Rose for not showing up like his old self.  Look at every big for letting every Timberwolf who penetrated create to the tune of 50 points in the paint.  Heck, throw the bigs not named Gasol (Mirotic, Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol) to the sharks for only getting 10 points.  Individuals or subgroups are easy to signal out, but the whole team stunk against another team that shouldn't have gained confidence from them.

Although Fred Hoiberg was understandably upset afterward, it's his responsibility to get the Bulls to kick old habits and take each opponent as seriously as the last.  And he needs to patch up that defense.  Even under Tom Thibodeau's defensive mindset last year, when there was more offense than usual, that very trademark uncharacteristically disappeared at crucial moments.  At least it's early enough in the year for Hoiberg to correct this imbalance, which is overdue with this roster.

The eighth game of the season is Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers.  While the Timberwolves have an upside for the future, there's not much going on in the City of Brotherly Love.  Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams are exciting to watch, but little support around them means the Bulls should have an easy time.  Then again, if the defense and intensity lacks yet again, we'll be looking at more rants from the media and fans over wasted opportunities with all this talent around.