Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine, Bobby Portis take flight against T’Wolves

Zach Lavine and Bobby Portis showed off their dunking chops for the Chicago Bulls against Tom Thibodeau, Jimmy Butler and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.

Whatever happens with the Chicago Bulls this season as they head for a bottom top-10 finish in the NBA, they’ll still be good for a few exciting plays each night.

And against old coach Tom Thibodeau and the Minnesota Timberwolves, they delivered on that once again.

In particular, a couple of Thibodeau’s old players, albeit from different circumstances, were the ones putting on the show.

First, it was Zach LaVine taking a rebound the length of the floor and stuff a mean tomahawk dunk in transition.

Safe to say, at least Karl-Anthony Towns knew better than to try jumping with him, which is more than you can say for JaKarr Sampson.

And on top of showing the expected athleticism, LaVine started knocking down a few shots in the second quarter, finishing with 10 points at the half. Thankfully, highlight dunks aren’t the only thing he does.

Speaking of guys diversifying a little, Bobby Portis decided he wasn’t just going to shoot from long range today.

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First, credit to David Nwaba, who just keeps on giving the Chicago Bulls quality minutes as a defensive presence and energy player. His active defense created this opportunity for Portis, who showed hustle once again in transition.

And maybe it’s just me, but I’m not used to seeing Portis get up like that at the rim. Maybe watching LaVine jumping over everyone all the time is rubbing off on him.

Unfortunately for the Bulls, Jimmy Butler has been balling out early on against the team that drafted him back in 2011, going for 20 points in his 20 first-half minutes.

If the Bulls manage to keep this game close, Mr. Buckets is probably going for 40 tonight.

Next: Can Bulls get the best out of Noah Vonleh?

But even if the Bulls continue losing, you can’t say that they aren’t still worth watching, at least for a few plays a game.