Bulls outlast Timberwolves in a classic, blown-out high-tops and all

MINNEAPOLIS — There might soon come a day when Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards is an elite closer.

It’s all in his bag; that’s for sure. He has the three-pointer and the midrange game, and there are few better at the rim. Sunday wasn’t that day, however. And definitely not when facing the one true “King of the Fourth”: Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan.

Thanks to nine points by DeRozan in the fourth quarter, as well as a game-high 27, the Bulls pulled off the season sweep against one of the top teams in the Western Conference, beating the T-wolves 109-101.

Oh, DeRozan had some help. Bloodied, and even blowing his sneaker out late in the game, Alex Caruso guarded Edwards, had five steals and shot a career-best 7-for-8 from three-point range.

“The guy [Caruso] is amazing, man,” DeRozan said. “The heart, the resilience, the passion, the will, AC is amazing, man. He’s definitely one of a kind. For a guy that’s been banged up for the year, every time he steps out there on the court, he leaves it all out there, puts his heart and soul into the game. It’s amazing to have a teammate like that.

“It’s a sign of his greatness.”

Caruso doesn’t do self-praise, but he would discuss his lucky pair of sneakers going in the trash.

“On one of the late plays, Mike Conley missed a three in the corner, and I was trailing [Edwards],” Caruso said. “Jumped up to get a contest, landed on my left foot, and my insoles and the plate that’s in there just slid out of the bottom, Zion [Williamson]-like at Duke.

“I could tell the back half of my foot wasn’t on. It was just on the bottom of the shoe. It’s probably my shoes were old, but they were good-luck shoes, so now I’ve got to retire them.”

The Bulls (36-39) set themselves up for success by scoring 33 points against the league’s top-ranked defensive team in the first quarter.

Minnesota came into the game with a 108.1 defensive rating — more than two points better than Orlando (110.4) — then watched Caruso rip into that top ranking with a 12-point first quarter in which he went 4-for-4 from three-point range.

And Caruso (21 points) wasn’t finished, hitting a fifth straight three early in the second quarter.

The Bulls’ offense ran like a well-oiled machine in the first half, building a lead that reached 16 and shooting 25-for-38 (65.8%) from the field, including 9-for-14 (64.3%) from three-point range.

But that vaunted Timberwolves defense decided to join the fray after halftime, limiting the Bulls to 20 points, forcing them into six turnovers and holding them to 38% shooting from the field in the third quarter.

So it was clutch-game alert again for coach Billy Donovan & Co.

Rudy Gobert gave the home team the lead with a put-back and foul with 5:21 left, and then the slugfest was on.

The problem for the Timberwolves was DeRozan. It wasn’t just his scoring — he was 11-for-23 from the field — it was also his playmaking. He finished with eight assists.

“It’s frustrating because we know our capabilities,” DeRozan said when asked how the Bulls can beat the Timberwolves twice but lose to the Pistons and Wizards. “We know we can beat anybody, so when we lose the games where Twitter goes crazy on us, says we’re the most confusing team, whatever they say, it’s definitely frustrating.

“When we perform like we did against the Timberwolves, that’s who we are.”