The Memphis Grizzlies have left the building.
The guys from Elvis’ town basically asked the Bulls to not be cruel, but it was the wonder of you for the Bulls Saturday night in an all shook up Bulls 125-96 victory that was little more than a heartbreak hotel for the basically muzzled Grizzlies.
“Played with a lot of joy tonight,” DeMar DeRozan said in his walk-off postgame interview. “We didn’t care who did what, so tonight was fun. We love seeing each other thrive and just being successful. It was big, especially with Zach (LaVine, sprained ankle) being out. All the guys stepped up; everyone came up big. Coby (White) played like Coby. It was a good win for us. So tonight was fun. Now time to go on the road to get some wins.”
The Bulls inched closer to .500 at 21-23 as Ayo Dosunmu with 20 points led the Bulls in scoring for the first time this season. Seven Bulls players scored in double figures with DeRozan adding 18 and White 17. It was mostly pretty easy and predictable enough for the Bulls as eight Memphis regulars, including Ja Morant, Marcus Smart, Steven Adams, Desmond Bane, Brandon Clarke and Derrick Rose were out with injuries, several for the rest of the season. So recently signed G League player Scotty Pippen Jr. got a few minutes and Rose got an ovation for being shown sitting on the bench.
The Grizzlies after trailing by 15 points in the second quarter and 10 at halftime perhaps didn’t give the Bulls a scare as much as a wakeup call that they were still in a game with NBA players when Memphis flipped the scoreboard for a 55-53 lead about three minutes into the second half. Three minutes after that the Bulls were back ahead by 15 points with threes from Dosunmu, Alex Caruso, White and DeRozan, a White transition slam dunk and a plus-17 from Dosunmu in the third quarter with eight points.
“He’s probably becoming more comfortable knowing the league defensively,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said about Dosunmu. “The matchups, and I think the game slowed down for him. He’s more patient in pick-and-roll, he’s taking his shots when they are there. He’s ready to shoot the basketball. I just think he’ll keep getting better. I thought he (is) working on the right stuff.”
Overall, the Bulls launched the Grizzlies with all their own right stuff. It was all Bulls with 51.6% overall shooting, 32 assists, 17-4 on second chance points, 18-5 on fast-break points, 52-32 on the boards and 14-of-33 on threes for 42.4%. The Bulls led by more than 20 points most of the fourth quarter and by as many as 31.
“I thought we sustained (the all-around play) for the whole game, which was good to see,” said Donovan said. “I know we didn't shoot it particularly well to start the game (4-of-13 on threes in the first quarter), but I thought we were really generating a lot of good looks. They missed a lot of threes as well (4-of-15 in the first quarter and 13-of-42 for the game), so there wasn't much separation there in that first quarter. But I liked the fact that we kept staying with it and were really unselfish and guys moved the ball, shared it. Everybody kind of got involved in one way or another.”
Patrick Williams started for the ailing LaVine and had 15 points. Nikola Vučević had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Andre Drummond had 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Grizzlies didn’t actually use a center. Not that they have much choice.
The Grizzlies with the electric — and eccentric — Morant have been one of the rising star teams in the NBA the last two seasons winning more than 50 games each. But Morant went out for the season injured after his 25-game suspension for bizarre behavior and down went pretty much everyone else.
But the NBA still is making them finish the season.
So they have to have a plan.
The coach didn’t actually say it, but he may have checked the statistics and noted that the Bulls aren’t a particularly adept three-point shooting team, 27th in makes and bottom third in attempts and percentage. So it made some sense to let the Bulls shoot threes.
But like that?
Grizzlies defenders — and that’s being very generous — seemed to be having homonym issues. When close was mentioned they apparently were thinking clothes. Because rarely did any of the Grizzlies players come within five feet of Bulls shooting. One time DeRozan set, dribbled, set again, ordered a pizza and a beer, and then finally made his three. OK, it seemed like he had the time for that.
It was more reminiscent of one of those bad pre-draft workouts when some kid makes 40 threes in a row with an assistant coach waving a broom in his face. And then imagine his surprise when he gets to the NBA and there’s actually somebody in front of him wider than a broom stick.
Still, when you’ve had the sort of season the Bulls have had on and off, that’s all right when you get one of these.
Yes, I am now officially done with the Elvis song references as I begin to explain to many of my readers who he was.
He was a hound dog, by the way. OK, OK.
At least to the Bulls credit, they were the dogs in this one and won a game they couldn’t afford to lose, and won it mostly easily and impressively.
"Definitely forces a challenge because you really can't key into one guy," Dosunmu said about the ball movement for 30-plus assists. "It makes us be able to get downhill more and make plays for each other and create open shots. And then it leads to offensive rebounds and things of that nature.”
And accusations about the lack of the need for LaVine.
A theme among some media and fans with LaVine missing 17 games earlier this season with a foot injury, and now with the ankle sprain that is expected to keep him out a week or two, is that the team is better without his 20-plus points because the ball moves better and yadda, yadda, yadda.
There seem often attempts by some reporters to bait Bulls players into saying how much better they are now, though no one has been falling into the traps.
“You just find a way,” said Williams. “The end goal is to win the game (no matter) who's playing, who's not playing. That's your job as a team, that's your job as a player to win games. We're all trying to find a way to do that. Would love to have him here. Can't wait ‘til he gets back. It's always the next guy up mentality. We kind of showed that tonight getting stops, getting downhill. I think we're really good when we do that whether he plays or not. I believe we have the same confidence with him. Trying to figure out (now) how to win games without him. When T(orrey) Craig comes back it will be the same. We’d love to have (LaVine) here; got to hold down the fort ’til that’s possible.”
LaVine wasn’t at Saturday’s game because he was doing rehab, said Donovan. Donovan said LaVine likely would be on this road trip that begins in Phoenix Tuesday.
“It's going to be how he responds,” said Donovan. “He certainly has swelling in his ankle. That's pretty clear. I don't want to put a timeline on him because I just don’t know how long ankle sprains take to heal. For him, I feel bad. He had several weeks where he was dealing with his foot; got through that, got back in, played five or six games and now this has happened and he’ll be out for a little bit. I know he’s always disappointed about not being able to play. I saw him yesterday, and we’ve talked a lot about this. He enjoys being out there playing. I think he was playing fine. Coming back in the Charlotte games and the games that we’ve played, he’s done a good job. He’s defended well, he’s moved the ball, I think he’s made good decisions. His assist totals were up. I think he’s been playing complete games.”
The Bulls are ready for a few more. Viva, the Bulls
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