Andrew Wiggins scores 22 in first half against Bulls

Andrew Wiggins has been dominant tonight for the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they’re looking to upset the Chicago Bulls on the road.

Andrew Wiggins scored 31 points and Karl-Anthony Towns and Nemanja Bjelica each finished with double-doubles as the Wolves beat the Bulls, holding them scoreless in the overtime period for a 102-93 win. It was a performance Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell promised was coming sooner or later.

After playing atrocious defense in the first half when they allowed the Timberwolves to take a 58-57 lead, the Bulls actually tightened up and held them to a combined 35 points over the third and fourth quarters.

“Believe it or not, I don’t think we ever did that, as good as we were in Detroit”, he said.

“Even in pregame shooting, I felt like I was in rhythm”, Wiggins said. “We’ll get exhausted of getting our butt whupped one day”, Rose said.

Mitchell said the last scouting footage he and his coaching staff showed players before Saturday’s game was a clip of a big Bulls team that features Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and Taj Gibson “tapping, tapping and tapping” balls off backboards. “It’s all about just bringing out that championship-caliber effort every night”. We got to stay more consistent.

Chicago built an 89-83 lead on a 3-pointer by Snell with 6:34 to go in the fourth quarter.

Derrick Rose scored a season-high 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting against the Thunder but made just 3 of 13 shots against the Timberwolves to finish with 11 points and five turnovers.

“It was good to close it out”, said Wiggins, who went 4-for-5 from three-point range but 5-for-10 from the free-throw line. “You get 82 opportunities to put your uniform on and go out and get up for the game and play for your teammate and do everything you can to win, and we didn’t do that tonight”. His night included 22 points and four three-pointers – quadruple his three-point output in the first four games – by halftime alone.

Chicago has won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including six in a row since November 2, 2013, and come out on top in five of its last six trips to Wells Fargo Center.

“This is a tough team”, Mitchell said, referring to the Bulls. “I don’t know how we play with as much energy as we did (against Oklahoma City) and then just show up the next (game) just expecting to win the game”, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “I’m going to make shots”. Timberwolves G Tyus Jones was active for the first time this season but did not play. Bulls F Doug McDermott started his second consecutive game in place of F Tony Snell, who came in off the bench…. “At a certain point, Father Time gets us all”.