As they bounded off the Target Center court Sunday evening, the Bulls couldn’t have cared less that they’d let a 13-point second-half lead disintegrate.
Or that the Minnesota Timberwolves had played without Sam Cassell, Wally Szczerbiak and, for the second half, Fred Hoiberg.
A win is a win is a win, and the Bulls (24-23) now own more of those than they had all of last season after a gritty 87-83 matinee victory.
The emotional boost Minnesota was expected to receive when Kevin McHale took over for fired coach Flip Saunders was matched by a steely Bulls performance. In sweeping Minnesota 2-0 for the first time since 1996-97, the Bulls limited their fouls and turnovers, rediscovered their defensive intensity and came up with the big plays when necessary.
“I’m proud of the way our guys played at the end,” coach Scott Skiles said.
Latrell Sprewell scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the first 7 minutes 46 seconds of the fourth quarter as Minnesota rallied.
Michael Olowokandi’s 7-foot jumper with six minutes to play gave Minnesota its first lead since the first quarter. But the Bulls held the Timberwolves without a basket over the final 3:02 and took the lead for good on Ben Gordon’s layup with 2:10 left.
Gordon, who led the Bulls with 21 points, rebounded his own miss after lofting an ugly floater over Kevin Garnett.
“I wasn’t concentrating on making the [first] shot,” Gordon said. “I was just trying to get it over KG. He usually punches those into the stands.”
