“I’ll Wonder All My Life How We Won”
January 25, 2009

Led by Al Jefferson’s 39 points, the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a stumbling start and rallied to defeat the Chicago Bulls, 109-108, at Target Center on January 25.

When the Bulls’ Joakim Noah scored on a layup halfway into the first quarter to give Chicago a 20-4 lead, it looked like it was going to be a long night for Minnesota, but somehow the Wolves came back to defeat the underachieving Bulls. Randy Foye’s running jump shot banked in for the margin of victory in overtime.

“It was a gritty win for us,” Minnesota head coach Kevin McHale told reporters after the game. “I don’t think I’ll watch the film, I think I’ll just wonder all my life how we won and that will be the end of it.”

Jefferson added nine rebounds to his 16 field goals and seven free throws, but the real beast on the boards was Kevin Love, who pulled down 15 boards. The Wolves had a 58-42 advantage in the paint.

“Big Al [Jefferson] was tremendous,” said McHale. The coach noted that, during the course of the game, Jefferson “was cramping, I asked if he wanted to come out, and he said absolutely not, so he was in there battling. He really fought hard tonight.”

The coach also took time to praise Love. “Kevin was just outstanding out there,” McHale said. “He’s just a gritty, tough, hard-nosed kid. I tell you, if that ball goes up on the glass, he feels he should get it and more often than not, he does.”

Chicago took a 55-49 lead at halftime, and the Bulls were up 82-77 going into the fourth quarter. A technical foul on Jefferson followed by a free throw by Tyrus Thomas gave the Bulls the lead at 95 to 88 with 3:54 left in the game. Then, with the score 97-93, a pair of Jefferson baskets sent the game into overtime.

A successful 19-foot jump shot by Ben Gordon gave the Bulls the early lead in overtime, but a Jefferson lay-up basket tied the score at 105, Later, a free throw by Andres Nocioni put Chicago ahead 108-107, setting the stage for Foye’s heroics.

Foye scored what proved to be the winning basket with a driving layup with 41 seconds left. After misses by both teams, the Bulls got the ball back with 13 seconds left, called timeout, and coach Vinny Del Negro diagramed a play. But something went wrong as rookie point guard Derrick Rose seemed to lose concentration. He made a move with ample time left but picked up his dribble in the lane and was forced to jack up a tough shot from nine feet out. Aaron Gray missed a tip-in attempt, and the Bulls knocked the ball out of bounds with less than a second showing on the play clock.

An incident that occurred prior to Chicago’s arrival in Minneapolis might have revealed what ails the Bulls. In a press conference, Del Negro told those present to ask his players if they respect him. Minutes later, Gordon was seen by some of the same media members confronting Del Negro and using vile expletives toward the coach. It appeared that the Bulls star guard was outraged at being fined for breaking some team rule. When queried afterward, Gordon said: “This is not a ‘respect’ issue.” Del Negro declined to respond.

Regardless of the friction between Gordon and Del Negro, the Bulls, at least on paper, should be better than an 18-27 team. In addition to Gordon, Chicago features a group of players with star power including Luol Deng, Noah, Thomas, Kirk Hinrich, and of course, Rose, the number-one overall NBA draft pick from last year.

Meanwhile, Del Negro, who retired as a player in 2002, is going through on-the-job training, learning to be a coach. After retirement as an active player, he became a broadcaster and worked as director of player personnel for the Phoenix Suns. When he was selected by Bulls’ chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to become the Chicago coach, he was toiling as an assistant to Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr. Chicago media members were surprised when Reinsdorf failed to hire former Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni . Instead, Reinsdorf eventually opted for an assistant general manager with the Suns. (D’Antoni accepted the head coaching position with the New York Knicks following a three-hour meeting with Reinsdorf.)