Bulls find lack of star power hard to overcome in loss to Timberwolves

For the second night in a row, the Bulls were managed by blown defensive assignments and not enough physicality in the paint.

But mostly by star power.

After Luka Doncic ran the Bulls out of the Dallas gym, Anthony Edwards had the next, led the Timberwolves back from a six-point fourth-quarter deficit, sending the Bulls (3-6) to their fourth straight loss, 135-119.

Just don’t try to convince the guard Josh Giddey there is a talent shortage.

“Regardless of personnel or who’s on the floor for us, our guys play hard, play the right way, play together, play unselfish,” Giddey said after the latest loss when asked about not having an elite player on the roster. “When you put all that together, it’s a tough team to play against. We love what we have in this dressing room, we think we have enough and we really believe that.

“There have been stretches this year where we’ve looked good. The Milwaukee game, the Orlando game, we’ve put it together. It’s just a matter of putting together that consistent balance where we can string long stretches together. When we’ll find out first, and I don’t think we’re far away from that.”

Wasted by the Bulls was a solid one-two punch Nikola Vucevic and Coby Whitewho combined to score 49. But Edwards showed why he’s in a different class than what the Bulls have, hitting two huge threes that seized momentum midway through the final stanza and finished the fourth with 13 of his game-high 33 points.

Not that Edwards was alone, considering the T-wolves (5-3) put up 45 points in that quarter, again revealing a defense searching for an identity without Alex Caruso in the mixture.

“There were certain things I was definitely unhappy with,” the Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of the defense. “What was disappointing was that there were opportunities to help and we weren’t there when we needed to be there.

“Some of it was physical. There were shots of the glass and we were moved out of the way.”

Case for the defense

The numbers say so Zach LaVine playing better defense than last season, but the sample is small. Don’t tell Donovan.

LaVine had a defensive efficiency rating of 117.8 last year and had it down to 114 in six games so far this season.

“He’s taken it on,” Donovan said. “He’s really tried to play both ends. He works both ends. Again, stylistically, that’s probably helped him because he gets out in transition.”

Making Matas

Coming off an early career-best 13 points in Dallas on Wednesday, the rookie Matas Buzelis found the sled a little tougher on the T-wolves.

Expected by Donovan, who just wants the 11th overall pick to continue getting playing time, but also understand what he needs to do to keep his development moving forward.

“There will be strength issues at times because he’s young, but he’s got to go to the glass offensively and defensively,” Donovan said. “The other thing is he’s got to run the floor. He’s got to run the floor in transition.

“Played with a lot more physicality (in Dallas). When you’re his size, a lot of times you don’t have to worry about blocking out. But when you have guys that are your size coming in and they’re 20 and 30 pounds heavier, you better block out. Like it’s not going to work. There are things he learns as the game goes on.”