Bulls get home schooled: Seven-game winning streak snapped at UC as Garnett, T-wolves outhustle Skiles' squad

After feasting on a slew of cupcakes during the first week of theextended homestand, the Bulls received their first tough challengeagainst the surging Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday night andfailed.

The Bulls struggled on both ends of the court in a 91-81 lossbefore a sellout crowd of 22,011 at the United Center to see theirseven-game winning streak snapped.

"I thought we really didn't start playing until there was twominutes left in the third quarter," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said."We went really small at one point and started playing with someenergy, but it was the second night in a row we sort of picked ourspots and we paid for it."

Minnesota's Kevin Garnett wasn't spectacular, but he played agreat all-round game -- 18 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, foursteals and three blocks -- to lead a balanced attack. After a slowstart this season, the Timberwolves (10-9) have won four straight.

There's been a lot of recent speculation about Minnesota possiblyacquiring All-Star Allen Iverson from the Philadelphia 76ers, butGarnett said that was the furthest thing from the minds of histeammates.

"We knew we had a tough back-to-back, and we were talking aboutthe things we had to do against a tough Chicago team," Garnett said."Management is going to do whatever they're going to do."

The Bulls (10-10) never could get much going offensively, savefor a string of nine straight points to end the third quarter. BenGordon led the Bulls with a game-high 21 points but was just 6-for-15 from the field.

As a team, the Bulls were 30-for-76 (39.5) from the field andfeatured too much one-on-one play.

"We kind of panicked a little bit," Gordon said. "We were down,and we kind of took it upon ourselves to do it. When we are playingwell, we share the ball. It's just something we have to try toovercome and start a new streak Monday."

Skiles didn't like his team's ball movement but focused more onthe defense of both teams.

"[Minnesota has] made a commitment on the defensive end," Skilessaid. "We have yet to make that commitment on a consistent basis.Tonight was a perfect example.

"Early in the game, they just threw it to [Garnett], and theywere cutting off him getting layups, and we were just standingaround. We weren't active enough, and then you saw what happenedwhen we got active. Things started happening for us."

Before the game, Skiles was interested in seeing how his teamwould respond following a lackluster 93-90 win Friday againstToronto.

"This will be a nice test for us -- we've played so well,[Friday] night we didn't play that well [but] got the win -- just tosee where our mental state is against what we think is an improvingclub," he said.

The Bulls have been jumping out to quick leads during thehomestand but were playing catch-up almost from the start againstMinnesota. The Wolves jumped out to an 11-5 lead four minutes intothe game and were up 18-9 with five minutes left in the firstquarter.

Much like the preseason matchup between the teams, the Bulls hadtrouble with the length and athleticism of the Wolves at both ends.Offensively, the Bulls' outside shots weren't falling, and they hadtrouble driving to the basket against the 6-11 Garnett and 7-footMark Blount.

The Wolves led by as many as 21 in the third quarter (63-42)before the Bulls closed to 72-62 entering the fourth quarter. Butthey never got closer than seven points (80-73).

bulls recap

Minnesota 24 29 19 19--91

BULLS 17 23 22 19--81

T-wolves min fg-a ft-a o-t a pf pts

Garnett 38:31 6-19 6-7 1-11 8 4 18

Hassell 30:11 5-7 1-2 1-3 2 2 11

Blount 18:42 4-7 3-3 0-5 2 4 11

James 36:23 4-13 6-6 0-2 5 1 15

RDavis 38:19 7-13 1-1 1-4 3 3 15

Smith 7:53 1-1 0-0 0-4 0 4 2

Foye 14:28 1-4 0-0 0-1 2 1 3

Jaric 27:17 4-5 2-2 3-7 2 2 12

EGriffin 8:56 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Reed 14:09 2-4 0-0 0-1 0 1 4

Hudson 5:11 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 2 0

Totals 240 34-77 19-21 7-41 25 24 91

Percentages: FG .442, FT .905. 3-Point Goals: 4-18, .222 (Jaric 2-2, Foye 1-2, James 1-6, Hudson 0-2, R.Davis 0-3, Garnett 0-3). TeamRebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 14 (15 PTS). Blocked Shots: 7 (Garnett3, Blount 2, James, Smith). Turnovers: 12 (Blount 3, R.Davis,Garnett, Hassell, Hudson, Jaric, Reed, Foye, James, Smith). Steals:10 (Garnett 4, James 4, Reed, Smith). Technical Fouls: None.

BULLS min fg-a ft-a o-t a pf pts

Nocioni 29:13 6-11 3-3 1-3 1 2 17

Deng 37:43 4-10 2-4 3-10 1 3 10

Wallace 31:39 3-6 2-5 1-11 1 3 8

Hinrich 42:52 6-18 3-4 1-1 8 5 15

Duhon 28:03 2-4 0-0 0-3 3 1 4

Gordon 36:17 6-15 7-7 0-5 2 4 21

Brown 8:01 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

AGriffin 3:52 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Allen 6:30 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 2 2

Sweetney 8:28 1-2 0-0 2-3 0 0 2

Sefolosha 0:57 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0

Thomas 6:25 1-3 0-0 2-3 0 0 2

Totals 240:00 30-76 17-23 11-44 16 20 81

Percentages: FG .395, FT .739. 3-Point Goals: 4-13, .308 (Gordon2-4, Nocioni 2-5, Duhon 0-2, Hinrich 0-2). Team Rebounds: 5. TeamTurnovers: 16 (17 PTS). Blocked Shots: 1 (Deng). Turnovers: 16(Duhon 3, Thomas 3, Deng 2, Gordon 2, Nocioni 2, Hinrich, Sweetney,Brown, Wallace). Steals: 5 (Deng 2, Duhon, Gordon, Wallace).Technical Fouls: None.

Officials--Jim Clark, Monty McCutchen, Zach Zarba. A--22,011(21,711). T--2:07.

jjackson@suntimes.com