Minnesota Rallies To Beat Bulls, NBA Scores

By ESPN

Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau got a loud ovation during pregame introductions before his first game back in Chicago, and his Timberwolves made it a triumphant return.

Zach LaVine scored 24 points, Andrew Wiggins added 23 and Minnesota rallied to beat the Bulls 99-94 on Tuesday night.

The Timberwolves wiped out a 21-point deficit and got Thibodeau a victory in his first game in Chicago since the Bulls fired him in an acrimonious split in 2015.

"There were far more great times than there were real problem times," Thibodeau said. "In the end, it didn't end great, but most of the time things were good. I'm proud of what our team did. I loved being here and that's how I look at it."

Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 16 points, and the Timberwolves snapped a four-game losing streak.

Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 27 points, and Robin Lopez added 14. But the Bulls continued a pattern of letdowns against losing teams, this time falling to one that came in tied for the NBA's worst record. And, of course, they lost to their former coach.

"There wasn't really any emotions, it was just about trying to get a win," Chicago's Taj Gibson said. "Trying to keep them down. That's a struggling team."

That wasn't what the Timberwolves expected when they hired Thibodeau. After all, the Bulls went 255-139 and made the playoffs in all five of his seasons, including a run to the 2011 Eastern Conference finals with MVP Derrick Rose leading the way.

"I know what these guys are doing in there," Thibodeau said. "I know what I'm doing in there. And that's all that matters. If we're doing each and everything you can do every day, that's all that matter."

BIG RALLY

The Timberwolves looked like they were going to get blown out, down 38-22 after the first quarter and trailing by 21 in the second. Instead, they closed the half on a 22-5 run to pull within four.

Minnesota was leading 91-87 in the game's closing minutes when Butler threw down an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Dwyane Wade in transition and nailed a fadeaway jumper off a steal to tie it with 1:34 remaining.

Wiggins then hit a pullup jumper and LaVine scored on a reverse layup to make it 95-91 with 52 seconds left.

Wade picked up two technical fouls and was ejected with 14.1 seconds left after his driving layup was blocked by LaVine. Butler also got called for a foul on the play.

It all led to Ricky Rubio hitting two technical free throws and LaVine making two foul shots to make it 99-91, sealing the win for Minnesota.

Tuesday, December 13 Scoreboard

Cleveland 103, Memphis 86

Orlando 131, Atlanta 120

Minnesota 99, Chicago 94

Golden State 113, New Orleans 109

Phoenix 113, New York 111 (OT)

Portland 114, Oklahoma City 95

Wednesday, December 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

Toronto at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Charlotte at Washington, 6 p.m.

Los  Angeles Clippers at Orlando, 6 p.m.

Indiana at Miami, 6 p.m.

Los  Angeles Lakers at Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.

Cleveland at Memphis, 7 p.m.

Sacramento at Houston, 7 p.m.

Detroit at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Utah, 8 p.m.

Boston at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m.