Bulls fire coach Fred Hoiberg; Boylen takes over

Teague was hit with a technical foul on a play in which he was fouled.

After Houston scored 38 points in the second quarter, Minnesota answered with a 38-point quarter of its own. The Timberwolves tied it at 76 after back-to-back threepointers by Teague to cap a 15-3 run. Wiggins also hit a threepointer and had a block at the other end during the stretch. Minnesota took its first lead since 14-11 when Dario Saric hit a threepointer that made it 79-77.

The Wolves grew their lead in the fourth quarter on a threepoint play by Saric and a three-pointer from the top of the key by Covington that made it 94-82.

Harden hit a shot in the fourth that ended a 42-14 Timberwolves' run over 14.5 minutes. The nine points in the fourth quarter was the fewest for the Rockets in any quarter this season.

Monday (Tuesday, PHL time) marked the first time Minnesota and Houston faced off since last year's playoffs. The Rockets beat the Timberwolves in five games, including a game that saw Houston score 50 points in a quarter at Target Center. CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls came into the season thinking they would start to climb in the wide-open Eastern Conference with a promising group of young players. A coaching change wasn’t part of the plan.

The skidding Bulls fired Fred Hoiberg on Monday and promoted associate head coach Jim Boylen in hopes of turning around a miserable season. Chicago is averaging 103.4 points — 28th in the NBA — and is getting outscored by 9.6 per game. They are a woeful 5-19, better only than Cleveland and Phoenix.

Hoiberg, who had to deal with a veteran roster that didn’t fit his style early on and then injuries to key players starting in training camp, never found his footing in Chicago. It added up to a 115-155 mark with one playoff appearance in threeplus seasons.

Executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson insisted the decision went beyond wins and losses, citing a lack of “energy and spirit.”

“We were in a similar situation last year at this time,” Paxson said. “But the entire energy about this group was different back then. We felt that here in the last several weeks, that something’s different. What we’re lacking ... is a spirit about our team.”