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What we learned from the Chicago Bulls stunning come-from-behind win over the Minnesota Timberwolves

The Bulls have a lot of fight left in them

Stephen Beslic

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The Chicago Bulls stunned the Minnesota Timberwolves, 129-123, in overtime in a highly entertaining game on Tuesday night. Chicago trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half but mounted an impressive comeback to secure the victory. Here are two takeaways from the morale-boosting win for the Bulls.

Twin towers

The Wolves feature a humongous starting frontline of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns—two All-Stars who stand 7-feet. To combat their size, the Bulls countered with a similar All-Star frontcourt of Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond. 

Bulls coach Billy Donovan has long been hesitant to utilize this combination but has used the two together on numerous occasions in their previous games. However, this was the first time they started together.

The decision worked wonders as Vooch finished with 24 points and six rebounds, while Drummond had 16 points and 16 boards.

"That at least gave us some stabilizing force up front with as big as they are," Donovan said. "That really helped."

The added ceiling also helped the Bulls protect the rim better, tallying a season-high 16 blocks—four each from Drummond and Vucevic.

Coby to the rescue

After a sluggish first half wherein he scored only three points, Bulls guard Coby White got it going in the fourth quarter, tallying 21 of his 30 second-half points to help the Bulls overcome a huge 23-point deficit. He began the game making only one of his seven three-pointers but kept at it and finished it with seven triples in a 33-point explosion. After the game, Drummond remarked White’s latest offensive barrage was nothing new.

"That's nothing for him," Drummond said.

"Coby White is incredible. This is what he does. He hit a lot of big shots."

Chicago Bulls rally from 23 points down to thwart the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime

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Stephen Beslic
STEPHEN BESLIC

Stephen Beslic is a writer on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Stephen played basketball from the age of 10 and graduated from Faculty of Economic and Business in Zagreb, Croatia, majoring in Marketing.

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