Timberwolves at Bulls
The return of Karl-Anthony Towns has yet to translate into wins for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are suffering through a six-game losing streak. Towns will try to lead the Timberwolves back into the win column when they visit the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
Towns sat out over a month with a knee injury before returning at Indiana on Friday and is averaging 22.3 points on 43.1 percent shooting in 30 minutes over three games since his return - losses to the Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets. "We've got to have that toughness," Towns told reporters following the 107-100 home loss to the Nuggets on Monday. "We've got to have that fight. We've got to go get that ball. It's all of us. We just didn't do the little things well enough, especially in the fourth quarter when you're playing a team like that." The Bulls traded wins and losses over the last six games and hung around with the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks on the road before falling 111-98 on Monday. "All year, we can play with anybody, it's just learning how to win," Chicago guard Zach LaVine told reporters. "Those good teams know how to make their run at the right time and hold on to the game. We haven't gotten there yet."
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS North, NBCS Chicago
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (15-28): Towns is in the midst of his fifth season and has only been to the playoffs once - a five-game loss as the No. 8 seed in 2018 - but is trying to stay positive about the direction of the franchise. "You've got to go out there and just do your part and just try to keep leading," Towns told reporters. "That's what I'm going to do. I think we have great guys in here, and we have to set our foundation, and our foundation has to be set with consistency. It's not good enough to be six out of seven days consistent. You've got to be seven out of seven days." Part of that foundation is rookie shooting guard Josh Okogie, who scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting on Monday and is averaging 13.3 points over the last three games.
ABOUT THE BULLS (16-29): Chicago forward Lauri Markkanen was expected to help LaVine carry the weight on offense this season but has yet to settle into a consistent rhythm with his jump shot and went 2-of-11 from the floor on Monday, including 0-of-7 from beyond the arc. "I thought he had some really good looks, looks that we'll take him shooting all the time," Bulls coach Jim Boylen told reporters of Markkanen. "I thought he was moving well, he had a couple great cuts to the basket, opportunities at the rim, that's what we want from him. Inside, outside. He plays hard. You'd like your guys to play great all the time, that doesn't happen, but our guys played hard." Markkanen was held under 20 points in each of the last eight games and is 2-of-15 from beyond the arc in the last two contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Timberwolves SF Andrew Wiggins is 6-of-29 from 3-point range over the last six games.
2. Chicago G Tomas Satoransky is 3-of-20 from beyond the arc over the last seven contests.
3. Minnesota took three straight and seven of the last eight in the series.