Bulls fought fire with fire against Wolves, earning best win of season

On Tuesday night, the ChicagoBulls tried something new against the Minnesota Timberwolves:starting their two centers, Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond,together.

The Bulls normally start Vucevicand surround him with four perimeter players, but head coach BillyDonovan elected to move Vucevic to the four in this game and playDrummond alongside him at the five.

The Bulls started the two bigmen to counter Minnesota’s huge frontline of Karl-Anthony Towns andRudy Gobert, and the results were rather interesting.

The two-man lineup of Vucevicand Drummong has appeared in just seven games and played 54 minutestogether. However, in those seven games, the pairing has thehighest offensive rating (130.6) and overall net rating (14.3)Vucevic has had with a teammate this season.

Against the Wolves, Vucevic andDrummond had a net rating of 8.7 and a plus-minus of +3. Theyshared the floor for 25 minutes, achieving an offensive net ratingof 134.7 – again, the highest of all two-man lineups withVucevic.

Although there were some spacingissues, the two big men worked their way around it on someoffensive sets. The rest of the minutes were then staggered tocater to each big man and have a different playstyle for each whenthey were on the floor.

Out of Vucevic’s 10 baskets,half of those came with Drummond on the floor. Among those werepick-and-pop jumpers (2), fadeaway jumpers from the left wing (2),and a driving floater in the lane.

On Vucevic’s two threes, theBulls utilized the two big men differently. First, Drummond sets ahigh pick for the ballhandler while Vucevic trails down the floorat the top of the key. Vucevic’s man, Naz Reid, helps at the nailon the drive, leaving Vucevic open for the triple.

Vooch first three pic.twitter.com/hJwpStBnX4

— Mon Anthony Valmoria (@Morval_) February 8, 2024

In the second play, notice howDrummond is slotted at the dunker spot while the ballhandler andVucevic flow into an empty corner pick-and-pop action for anotherthree.

Vooch second three pic.twitter.com/Vr3gsHPIE0

— Mon Anthony Valmoria (@Morval_) February 8, 2024

What’s even more impressive isthat the two started practicing the twin-towers combo the day ofthe game.

“We just started practicing ittoday,” Drummong said post-game. “That wasn't long either, but we figured it out.He's a smart player, I'm a smart player. I stay out of his way andlikewise. We figured it out throughout the game and found goodchemistry."

The 12-year veteran thrivedagainst the three-time DPOY Gobert and Minnesota's top-rankeddefense. Drummond was backing Gobert down in the paint, pulling offsome highlight plays and celebrating with “too small” gesturesafter he scored.

Andre Drummond deep in his celebration bag👀🔴 pic.twitter.com/ODxXPH6mWJ

— Taco Trey Kerby (@treykerby) February 7, 2024

With this interesting lineup,the Bulls scored 129 points, which is way more than what the Wolvesusually allows (106.8 points per game), as they have the bestdefensive net rating in the NBA.

Vucevic and Drummond ended upcombining for 40 points, and this allowed Coby White to take overin the fourth quarter and overtime. With the Wolves' defense keyingin on both bigs, White came up with 21 points in the fourth quarteron 7-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three. He finishedthe game with 33 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

Coby White had the TAKEOVER badge 🔥33 pts | 11-21 FG | 5 reb | 7 ast pic.twitter.com/B0wBM3soBa

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 7, 2024

An Most-Improved-Playerfrontrunner, White knocked down tough threes late in the game,which has been a big part of his improvement this year.

But the spotlight belonged toVucevic and Drummond. Even though it was a small sample size,there's excitement about how the pairing can be used againstcertain matchups going forward.

“They got to pick their poison,”Drummond said of his pairing with Vucevic. “Whether you let me beatyou up in the paint or he [Vucevic] can shoot the three or beat youup in the paint too. So, it's a great tandem, for sure.”