11 observations: Bulls ride 4th-quarter surge past Wolves originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago Bulls won the first game of a crucial six-game homestand against the Timberwolves on Friday, riding a fourth-quarter surge to a 134-122 victory.
The result moves them to 35-21, and into a tie for second in the East with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Here are 11 observations:
1. The Bulls’ offense looked crisp as it gets when they were able to finish possessions. For the game, they scored a season-high 134 points, shot a season-high 63.2 percent and dished out 32 assists, running away and hiding with 42 points in the fourth quarter.
But giving away possessions foiled them in quarters one through three. In those periods, Minnesota scored 12 points off of 13 turnovers, 10 second-chance points off of seven offensive rebounds, and 16 points on the fastbreak.
2. That fourth quarter, though, featured a seismic shift, and it was the Bulls’ own fastbreak game that lit the spark. That’s a nod to the 15-2 run between the 10:10 and 7:22 mark of the final frame that pulled the Bulls from down 100-97 to ahead 112-102.
In the transition department, that stretch featured an alley-oop to Zach LaVine that made the score 106-100, and an Ayo Dosunmu pick-six steal and slam to make it 112-102. Both plays forced Minnesota timeouts, and the Bulls led by eight points or more the rest of the way, eventually winning by 12.
3. Coby White was the star of the stretch that sealed the game. After scoring four points and shooting 0-for-3 from 3-point range in the first half, he buried two long-balls in a late-third-quarter flurry, then poured home four without a miss in the fourth quarter; one tied the game 97-97, the next put the Bulls ahead 102-100, and the last two re-cemented double-digit leads after Minnesota drew to within eight. His baskets were impactful, and the home crowd responded in kind.
In all, White finished with a season-high-tying six triples en route to 22 points, sliding back to the bench with Dosunmu returned from concussion protocol.
4. DeMar DeRozan’s consistency in the face of a heavy workload continues to impress. He played another 38 minutes, and took another 22 shots, against the Timberwolves, but shot 63.6 percent and went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line to finish with 35 points. And he saved a whopping 16 of those for the fourth.
That’s DeRozan’s fifth consecutive 30-point game, which ties the longest streak of his decorated career.
5. LaVine had shot well — 9-for-17 from 3-point range — in two games since returning from back spasms, but didn’t look himself in this one. He finished with 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting (1-for-6 from 3, 1-for-3 from the free-throw line), and noticeably winced after one made dunk.
LaVine is playing through pain in the form of those spasms and some lingering knee soreness, but the Bulls didn’t need him to fully perform up to his All-Star standard to post their best offensive performance of the season.
“This time of year, I don’t think anybody’s feeling great. I think, for him, he’s had to deal with his knee, he’s had to deal with his back. It’s a lot right now,” Donovan said of LaVine. “I’m sure he’s not quite where he wants to be physically, but I give him a lot of credit. He’s going out there and competing and playing and doing trying to do what he can do to help the team.”
Donovan said the Bulls will make a decision on LaVine’s status for the second night of the back-to-back on Saturday in the morning. They take his temperature after every contest.
6. Credit Patrick Beverley, too, for LaVine’s shooting struggles. The Minnesota guard provided typically pesky defense all night — and dolled out plenty of friendly smack talk in the process.
The best exchange came in the game’s final minutes, with the result decided, when DeRozan hit a turnaround jumper over Beverley and brandished the “too little” downward point in response to some jawing before the possession’s inbounds play. Smiles all around.
7. Nikola Vučević had an outrageously efficient night, posting 26 points on 11-for-14 shooting (2-for-4 from 3) and adding seven assists. Save for a 13-point clunker against Phoenix, he’s been on a heater of late, averaging 22.6 points, 13 rebounds and 4.5 assists while shooting 61 percent in his last 11 games. Vučević’s touch on floaters and midrange jumpers — which was absent during his extended, early-season shooting slump — has been lights out in that span.
8. Javonte Green had a five-game streak of scoring in double-figures snapped Monday against Phoenix, then tallied just six points against Charlotte, but exploded at the offensive end against Minnesota for a season-high 23 points. Not only did he cut his way to a handful of patented slams, he also matched a career-high with three 3-pointers.
“They were really trying to send an extra body to Zach and to DeMar and to Vooch, and I think Javonte did a terrific job finding opportunities to cut in open spots. He made a couple 3s,” Donovan said. “He figured things out as the game was going on.”
9. Dosunmu played 42 minutes, and notched a 14-point, 10-assist double-double, in his first game back from a one-game absence necessitated by a concussion.
“I felt good tonight. My legs was good, my body was good. Every aspect I felt ready to play, I felt good,” Dosunmu said, adding that he likely sustained the concussion against the 76ers on Sunday, but didn’t experience symptoms (dizziness) until the second half of the Suns game on Monday.
Then, referencing the league’s rigorous concussion protocol, which features multiple strenuous workouts and mental tests, he noted: “During the game I felt better than [I did] trying to play in the game.”
10. The Bulls didn’t have much for Anthony Edwards, who scored a rather spectacular 31 points on 12-for-22 shooting. Donovan tried a litany of defenders on him — from Green to Malcolm Hill to LaVine to Dosunmu — and still, the dynamic second-year wing used his lightning-quick first step, and linebacker build, to burst and barrell to the rim for bucket after bucket.
11. Matt Thomas fell from Donovan’s rotation, leaving White, Tony Bradley, Troy Brown Jr. and Hill as the team’s reserve options. Outside of White’s 22 points, and Bradley’s four rebounds and two blocks, the bench provided little, with Brown Jr. (-15) and Hill (-6) posting paltry plus-minuses for a double-digit victory. Expect that to be a theme until the team is closer to whole again.
Next up: Home for the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.
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