Could this be the week the Bulls finally shed that weakness and take to heart the words of Chicago's Iceman Jerry Butler that only the strong survive? Be a man and take a stand? And maybe actually find themselves on the verge of that sixth spot in the Eastern Conference?
With Monday’s 111-100 victory over the Atlanta Hawks to go ahead in the season series, the Bulls still in 10th in the conference can pass the Indiana Pacers with a win there Tuesday. And then with games in Charlotte and Orlando to wrap up the week, the Bulls now at 22-24 could even be back over .500 and tangling with the seventh place Knicks who are just two games over .500.
OK, OK, we all know what’s happened this season against teams with losing records. But the Bulls now with three consecutive wins may finally seem to have found the alchemy to convert hope into success.
“This is the time of the season... to get in a groove and really solidify the identity you’ve been building for the first part of the season,” said Patrick Williams with a season’s first double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. “That goes for us as a team and for me as a player. Solidify who you are and what you do for the team, how you play the way you play. So every every game is the next big game for us and every week is the next big week for us.”
Perhaps the Bulls finally are doing so with six players scoring in double figures led by DeMar DeRozan with 26 points and 20 for Zach LaVine, another huge rebounding game from Nikola Vučević with 14 points, 17 rebounds and a team-high seven assists, 15 offensive rebounds and 13 steals that led to 25 Bulls points (eight for the Hawks off turnovers) in a relentless defensive effort.
“Stuck with it, stayed with it. I was proud that we got stops when we needed,” said DeRozan, who hit yet another milestone in his Hall of Fame career playing in his 1,000th NBA game.
And we thought the 1,000 for DeRozan was pump fakes per game.
There was no faking for the Bulls in this game the way they defended aggressively led by Alex Caruso off the bench with three steals and a block. And with two more threes, Caruso is quietly up to about 40 percent on threes for the season.
“We just kept grinding,” said Caruso. "That’s something we’ve talked about throughout this year. There’s going to be games when the shots don’t go in, so we’ve got to fall back on our defense, discipline and principles. We gave up 21 first quarter points, and that’s what kept us in the game. Had a great second and a great fourth and pulled away late.”
The Bulls with a 24 percent shooting first quarter and one of nine on threes looked like a team that had recently traveled 4,000 miles for this game.
But what was the Hawks’ excuse in leading 21-17 by the end of the first quarter?
The Bulls got off their nine-hour flight back from France late Friday, sleep and fresh croissants elusive since then.
“Obviously, it was a tough trip and we missed a lot of shots we normally make,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “So it was one of those games you’ve got to keep grinding away.”
Grinding away is NBA shorthand for, “Wow, did we stink, but so did the other guys.”
It really was the Bulls who made it so with an effort that transcended their initial aim.
They got over screens and cut off the Hawks driving lanes, limiting those many corner threes and open perimeter shots. They ran the Hawks into 10 of 33 on threes. They seemed to have Trae Young rattled with physical play, Young one of six in the first half and six turnovers for the game. Atlanta, which is 24-24 and thus barely a game ahead of the Bulls, looks like a disjointed team ready for a makeover. Young finished with a nice line of 21 points and 13 assists, but seven of 16 shooting and little overall impact as the Bulls continued to knock his passes away and swipe at his dribble.
“Alex did a really good job of pressuring,” said Donovan. “There are so many things that impact the game (other than scoring), and Alex does all those things. I thought Patrick was really good on the glass, really important timely rebounds in crucial situations. And Alex defensively, his disruption and keeping the group together and connected. I though a lot of guys made a lot of winning plays.”
With a 40-point second quarter that featured a continuation of the altruistic play on offense, like DeRozan giving up a sure fast break basket to pass back to a trailing LaVine for a dunk and Vučević taking a pass from LaVine and giving up a foul line jumper for a cutting layup basket for Caruso, the Bulls surged ahead 59-48 at halftime.
Young finally got a bit going in the third quarter with limbs akimbo leading to free throws. That made it a tie at 78 entering the fourth quarter when the Bulls took control of the game simply outworking the Hawks. Derrick Jones Jr. slam dunked a Coby White miss on a follow and to close an 11-3 run to start the quarter, Williams ate up a Vučević miss and handed it back to a cutting Vučević for a slam dunk and basically see ya later, Trae.
DeRozan closed it out with some smooth jump shooting, nine points in the quarter. To match the enigmatic Williams, who also had five rebounds in the quarter.
Which made Williams the talk of the post game media session since there has been so much expected of the No. 4 overall 2020 draft pick and so much youth to get through. Williams always handles the questions and concerns with unusual aplomb for someone so young. Remember, it was about a month ago Donovan talked about benching Williams.
“I feel like Patrick’s gotten better,” said Donovan. “He’s improving; you can see growth in him. You can see his growth and improvement over the course of the season. He’s a guy that’s got to try to go get double figure rebounds for us. When he makes those efforts to get on the backboard, he’s an elite rebounder. We need him to do that.”
That’s been the promise and also the perplexing part with Williams because he seems so talented.
“One of the most versatile players on this team,” said DeRozan. “Once he gets comfortable and realizes what he’s doing now it’s going to help us even more.”
And DeRozan jokingly emphasized he’d continue to let Williams know.
“I think you all don’t see how much I get on his nerves,” DeRozan said laughing, Williams sitting just to his left as DeRozan spoke with media. “I really get on his nerves. Like, really get on his nerves. If he plays bad or don’t compete like the way I know he can compete, it’s verbal abuse.”
There wasn’t much of that this time, except perhaps in the Atlanta locker room where coach Nate McMillan seems to be playing out his last season, regulars like John Collins are in trade talks it seems daily, and rumors continue about rifts regarding Young.
Which is another reason why it seems like the Bulls are prepared to finally make a run.
They’ve been basically healthy with Goran Dragić out Monday with an illness. There doesn’t seem to be any serious issues or divisions with the team. And even though there are outside suggestions about personnel alterations, most indications are the team likely will remain substantially unchanged.
Perhaps except in the standings?
Got to take that stand, be strong, hold on. The Bulls may, indeed, survive.
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