Chicago Bulls

A few fortunate bounces away from turning 30-point and 23-point deficits into victories within the same week, Coby White, even after a heroic effort, acknowledged that the comeback approach wasn’t necessarily a “fun way to live.” It certainly wasn’t the type of exchange the Chicago Bulls had in mind, but with the trade deadline just two days away, they found at least one team — the Minnesota Timberwolves — that wouldn’t have minded swapping lifestyles on February 6, 2024. In putting the NBA’s No. 1-ranked defense on the wrong end of their fifth-largest comeback since 1998, Chicago rode 33-point eruptions from both White and DeMar DeRozan, with the two nearly matching the Timberwolves’ All-Star duo point-for-point. Still in search of ways to cultivate that execution and intensity on a night-by-night basis, Chicago also took full advantage of their opportunity to run a post-centric, two-big lineup at once with Nikola Vučević and Andre Drummond, running up 56 paint points against the league’s third-stingiest interior defense. The standout victory afforded Chicago with needed momentum ahead of a four-game road trip, and kept them tightly connected to the Eastern Conference’s Play-In Tournament puzzle.