Jimmy Butler: Jimmy Butler scores 12 in 33 minutes

Jimmy Butler, who finished the game against NY with 12 points and five assists, clearly wasn’t happy with blaming fatigue for the loss.

The New York Knicks will be facing off with the Chicago Bulls tonight for the first time.

Arron Afflalo added 18 points for NY, which got back to.

“Wake up, basically”, he said.

Andre Drummond was so exhausted by the end of four overtime periods, he needed to rest up just to answer a question. The Bulls won all three meetings with the Knicks last season, including a 24-point rout in their one visit to Madison Square Garden.

Pau Gasol is sitting out Chicago’s game against the Knicks after the Bulls played a four-overtime game a night earlier.

“You’re a little tired but I feel everybody felt it tonight”.

“I believe in the guys in this locker room, yeah”, Butler said.

Russell Westbrook added 13 points and 11 assists for his 18th double-double of the season for Oklahoma City.

The last – and only other – time in franchise history the Bulls played a four-overtime game was in March 1984 and they weren’t scheduled to hit the court again until two nights later.

Isaiah Thomas scored 29 for the Celtics.

It’s the Knicks fourth win in a row as they improve to 14-14, while the Bulls slip to a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They did only shoot 5-20 from three but there were a lot of makes that had you shaking your head, but maybe that was just because the Knicks shouldn’t be doing this to us damnit. I think that (Hoiberg) has to hold everybody accountable from the No. 1 player all the way to however many guys we have.

Friday night, Jimmy Butler scored a career-high 43, Derrick Rose had a season-high 34 on a career-high 34 attempts and Gasol added 30. Rookie forward Bobby Portis had the best night of his brief career with 20 points and 11 rebounds. It marked the first time this season Gasol wasn’t in the lineup and Joakim Noah started in his place and scored a team-high 21 points with 10 rebounds in the Bulls’ 107-91 loss to the Knicks. Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg said he expects Dunleavy to return this season. The team’s top selection (22nd overall) in the 2015 draft had played in only four games entering Saturday, all at the end of blowouts.

Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony making a strong move to the basket during the first half. The Bulls shot 39.4 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range.

Both teams will be entering this game as the second night of a back-to-back set.

MINNEAPOLIS – Andrew Wiggins led the way with 32 points as Minnesota overcame a late rally by Sacramento and ended a four-game losing streak. I’m sorry, I know Fred’s a laid-back guy, and I really respect him for that, but when guys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you got to get on guys, myself included. “You win your matchup, you do your job, we win the game”.