Could it be that Victor Wembanyama is feeling Adama Sanogo’s hot breath coming up on him in the Rookie of the Year race with Sanogo’s 22 points and 20 rebounds — the only rookie 20-20 game this season after Wembanyama’s — in Friday’s Bulls 129-127 victory over the Washington Wizards?
Nah, but it’s worth a smile.
Which was pretty much the theme of Friday’s elevated pre-season type fun game because the Bulls rested most of their starters with the play-in home court game for next week cliched against the Atlanta Hawks, and the Wizards resting most of their regulars for we’re not sure why.
So it was a night for milestones and actually an entertaining, if inefficient, conclusion for the Bulls who survived losing a six-point lead in the last 40 seconds when Patrick Baldwin Jr’s free throw to tie the game with 6.2 seconds left went awry and into Sanogo’s grasp for rebound number 20.
And thus became not only the second NBA rookie with a 20-20 game this season, but the second in Bulls history after Charles Oakley in 1985. With four Bulls players scoring at least 20 points led by Javonte Green’s 24, Green set a career-high with 20 first-half points and didn’t play much in the second half. Jevon Carter had his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 assists, and Coby White added 20 points while DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vučević and Alex Caruso all rested in the back-to-back as the Bulls inched up to 39-42 with a final regular season game Sunday in New York.
Ayo Dosunmu and Andre Drummond both remained out with injuries with both hopeful of returning for the play-in game or games. Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, Julian Phillips and, of course, Lonzo Ball are out for the season. Washington didn’t play most of their guys you’ve heard of like Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, Marvin Bagley and Jordan Poole and couldn’t get that rare 16th win.
So it was an opportunity for the guys who usually watch and have to cheer — look, no one who really wants to play can be that excited for others taking their place although we play along — to have some fun.
And some of the most for the Bulls was the likable Mali native who was Most Outstanding Player of last year’s NCAA tournament champion UConn team and a two-way player for the Bulls who has been putting up huge numbers for the Windy City Bulls.
But at 6-foot-9 and without that so called above-the-rim game, Sanogo wasn’t drafted. It’s a similar question haunting Purdue star Zach Edey, though his 7-foot-4 size should get him into this year’s NBA draft, if perhaps not in the first round.
The NBA is even more an athletic and shooting game, especially with the emphasis on the three-pointers. The conventional wisdom has been the onset of the center less game, though paradoxically Nikola Jokić and Joel Embiid were the most recent MVP winners.
So perhaps there is a place for someone like Sanogo, who makes up for his lack of size and leaping ability with clever footwork, solid fundamentals and a Drummond-like hunger for missed shots with 10 offensive rebounds. Maybe they just don’t have a training table at UConn.
“For some of our younger guys to be in a game like that (was good) because you don’t experience some of the things that happened at the end,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “I thought Javonte was really, really good. I thought Dalen (Terry) gave us really good minutes. It was unfortunate he picked up fouls; he’s got to be better, he’s got to be smarter in the type of fouls he’s picking up. I thought Adama did a really good job. He started the game slow and missed a lot of easy stuff around the basket, but I thought he settled in during the second half and made some nice plays around the basket, finished and certainly rebounded. Henri (Drell) came off the bench and made some threes, but the guy I was really personally happy for was Jevon. I thought he played really well, a veteran guy who had a huge impact on the game and for a guy who’s been in and out of the lineup, he always tries to keep himself ready. There were a lot of individual performances that contributed to us having a chance.
“His (Sanogo) situation, maybe the most underrated thing about him is basically because he does not play necessarily above the rim and a lot of his stuff is around the basket is angles; he’s really good with his feet,” said Donovan. “We switched a lot defensively and he does a good job moving his feet and keeping people in front of him. He’s very good in pick and roll coverage. There were several times when he had to close out and contest three-point shots, so that’s (also a) really underrated area of his. He’s going to have to figure out there’s a lot more size here than there was in college. There he could just carve out space physically and overpower you and finish. Now when there’s length between he and the basket, he has to find ways to finish. I give him credit. I thought he adjusted as the game went on.”
And Sanogo said he’s been ready to pounce while averaging about 22 and 12 for Windy City.
"I've been waiting for this all year,” said Sanogo. “So to be able to come in and do it now, it feels great. This is like a dream come true for me. I think that is why I am here. I don't think I got here by chance. I got here because these guys believe in me. These guys think I can have a chance. I've got to show that, too, that I can do this. I’ve been waiting for this all year to have a chance. You don’t get this chance a lot, so that was my mindset to go get it.”
The Bulls got this one in the end, though it didn’t matter much with their matchup locked in for the first play-in game Wednesday against Atlanta. The winner of that game then on the road faces the loser of the 7/8 play-in game, which is scheduled to be played Tuesday. But those teams are not determined yet among Indiana, Philadelphia and Miami.
So the high scoring and highest energy Bulls became spectators as Donovan started his dream small lineup with Green at center.
Donovan said there was some method to the madness as an experiment to play a compete small ball lineup to see how that functions even if it’s not with the same players who would be in the play-in tournament.
So the game was wide open NBA with Washington ahead 40-33 in the first quarter, the Bulls see-sawing to a 65-62 halftime lead, the Bulls still ahead by three heading into the fourth quarter with both teams already threatening 100 points, and then a lot more action than we get from Congress, anyway, in the last six minutes.
Terry had a wild driving dunk and primal reaction while Drell provided accompanying theatrics. The kids were having fun.
Torrey Craig with 11 points and 15 rebounds made a clutch three with about a minute left, and then the Bulls missed four of their last eight free throws to give Washington a chance. Really, overtime in the game? Please, no. Corey Kispert made a three with 24 seconds left to cut the Bulls lead to 127-126. Sanogo made one of two free throws, and then Baldwin missed his second for the tie. Sanogo dropped one of two free throws before Kispert to tie missed a runner at the buzzer.
Which was quite enough basketball on this night. And on to Madison Square Garden for the final dress rehearsal.
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