MINNEAPOLIS — Things have changed around Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau.
Players have changed, staffs have changed, heck, even the game has changed since Thibodeau barked out, “Ice . . . Ice!’’ while patrolling the bench at the United Center for years.
But has Thibodeau changed?
He still growls out answers at media sessions, still coaches each game as though his life depends on it. Same old Thibs.
When asked about the “noise’’ that has distracted his team since the start of training camp because of the Jimmy Butler ordeal, with a wry smile on his face, he answered, “What noise?’’
“That’s the NBA,’’ Thibodeau said. “You can’t get distracted. You see it all the time. Every team goes through something at a different time. Keep marching forward. That’s what you have to do. In this league, you can find an excuse every night if you choose to do so. Just be mentally tough through adversity. Everybody has it. Deal with it. Move forward.’’
Thibodeau and his Timberwolves have done that since trading Butler to the 76ers. They improved to 5-2 with their new-look roster after beating the Bulls 111-96 at the Target Center on Saturday.
“I think the ball movement, everyone being on the same page and the new pieces that we have, like they’re for the team,’’ T-wolves guard Derrick Rose said. “They’re professional, great dudes, and that’s what we needed.’’
Thanks to Butler, the Timberwolves had been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
“At times it was [a distraction],’’ former Bull Taj Gibson said. “When you’ve got to deal with players, trade rumors, stuff like that, it always makes the locker room a little uneasy. But the team was cool. It’s always a distraction, though, when you have things like that.’’
Now distraction-free, the Timberwolves (9-11) handled the Bulls with ease, holding the 5-15 visiting team to 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Rose had 22 points, and Gibson had six.
Karl-Anthony Towns had game highs of 35 points and 22 rebounds for the Timberwolves, but Andrew Wiggins went 0-for-12 from the field and didn’t score.
Thibodeau is 4-1 against the Bulls since they parted ways.
“He gave me a chance,’’ Rose said of Thibodeau. “That’s all I needed was one more chance, and he did that. If anything, we communicate more than we did in the past, and he’s honest. When I came, he said he’d try to find minutes for me. It wasn’t like he said he was going to give me minutes.’’
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 28 points and shot 9-for-17 from the field. Jabari Parker had 27 points.
