CHICAGO – For most of Thursday's game, the Timberwolves defense was absent from the United Center. The Wolves appeared resigned to outscoring the Bulls, who were without guard Zach LaVine and playing back-to-back games. After trailing most of the evening, the Wolves came back in the fourth quarter for a 135-119 victory.

They broke out in the fourth round. While their defense is still struggling to find its feet, their offense played as well as it has all season in the second half on Thursday. A game in which the Wolves trailed 95-90 ended with a comfortable win in the fourth period.

The Wolves outscored Chicago 21-6 over a period of 5 minutes, 6 seconds in the fourth quarter. Anthony Edwards led them with 33 points while Julius Randle had 22. The Wolves did a good job of finding Rudy Gobert for easy shots and he had 21 points.

Both teams came out with flying colors. The Bulls made their first five three-pointers of the night and the Wolves made their first four. The Wolves' defense failed in the first quarter, and Chicago took a 34-28 lead after shooting 14-22.

After using eight players in his rotation in Monday's win over Charlotte, coach Chris Finch replaced a ninth player on his bench in the first quarter on Thursday: Josh Minott. But Minott ended up playing only three minutes.

The Wolves defense let Chicago do whatever it wanted in the second quarter. The Bulls finished the first half shooting 60% from the field, all in one back-to-back. Coby White and Josh Giddey each finished the half with seven assists.

The Wolves couldn't contain Nikola Vucevic, who was 11 of 12 from the field through three quarters and scored 25 points. He had 12 points in the third quarter. The Wolves' performance increased in the third period, although the defense still had difficulty containing Chicago. They came within two points thanks to 34 points in the third quarter, but trailed 95-90 at the start of the fourth quarter. Then the offensive began. Edwards struck from deep; He finished the game 5-9 from three-point range.