The Chicago Bulls appeared to be on their way to an easy victory at one point, but they only lead 53-47 against the Minnesota Timberwolves going into halftime. The Bulls led by as much as 24 in the quarter, but the Timberwolves ended the half on a 20-2 run to make things interesting.
It was a dominant performance early by Chicago, as it built a 51-27 with about five minutes left in the half. Things seemed to be all but over at that point, but Kevin Love was fantastic in leading Minnesota back into the game. The Bulls were excellent offensively initially before hitting a dead end, but they still managed to make 51 percent of their shots from the field and 5 of 11 from three-point range. Minnesota shot just 39 percent from the field but had a clear advantage from the free-throw line.
Derrick Rose was the game's leading scorer in the first half, knocking down 7 of 10 shots for 16 points. The rest of Chicago's offense was pretty balanced, with nobody scoring more than Luol Deng's eight points. Love finished the first half with 13 points and 8 rebounds to lead Minnesota, and Ricky Rubio came off the bench to dish out seven assists in 16 minutes.
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