Chicago Bulls head coach Jim Boylen lit into his team, criticizing them for a lack of toughness after a 115-108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.
The Bulls weren't greatly outrebounded, but they allowed the Timberwolves to snatch 10 offensive rebounds on their 40 misses, including several key ones late. This made the embattled helmsman very mad:
“I didn't like it. They got 25 percent of their missed shots back. That's too many. Can't happen. I challenged our group,” said Boylen, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “We have to be tougher and more competitive in those moments when there are 50-50 balls in the air. We’ve got to do a better job.
The Bulls had plenty of recovering pieces, as they played without leading scorer Zach LaVine and trotted out starting cogs like Otto Porter Jr., Lauri Markkanen, and Wendell Carter Jr. in limited minutes.
Boylen couldn't care less:
“I don’t care who's coming back. I don't care who's been out, who's working on a minute restriction,” he said. “I didn’t think we were tough enough tonight and I didn't like it. You can't let them shoot 50 percent and then not rebound the ball. Can’t do it. I didn’t like it.
“I understand what we're operating under and it's difficult on the group, but we've got to be tougher. I want us to rebound the ball better. I want us to be more physical. And I didn’t think our physicality was good enough. I understand that we're trying to work guys back in. I understand we played 11 guys and those things are difficult. But our effort on the defensive board has to be better.”
The rebounding was actually pretty even in this game, but what really hurt the Bulls was allowing the Wolves to shoot a scandalous 19-of-38 from downtown, creating a 24-point difference with their outside shooting.
If those shots are misses instead, Boylen would have walked away a winner and wouldn't have this as his complaint. The Wolves committed plenty of turnovers (18) and shot the ball 14 times less than the Bulls from the floor, but also got to the line 14 more times.
Rebounding, however, was the furthest of concerns for a team that played such porous defense through 48 minutes.
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