How ‘bout that Zach LaVine!
“He played an all around great game, he assisted, he got in and rebounded; and obviously the scoring piece,” commended Bulls coach Billy Donovan about LaVine’s 25 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in the Bulls 124-119 overtime win over the Houston Rockets. “I give a hm a lot of credit because he wasn’t totally involved in the game coming down the stretch, but in overtime he kept his head and made some big plays for us, came up with some loose balls and rebounds, too.
“He’s had a lot of amazing games throughout his career,” said Donovan. “I don’t know if I can sit here and say it’s the best one I’ve ever seen (from him), but certainly if you look at the all around game he played at both ends of the floor you can put it up there.”
Because without that game from the guy so many were saying weighed down this Bulls team, this Bulls team would have suffered one of the most demoralizing losses of the season, losing a 16-point fourth quarter lead after controlling virtually the entire game; but the NBA can be like that.
And then trailing 119-114 almost three minutes into overtime and Coby White, despite another All-Star-in-waiting 30 points game, and White committing a turnover it looked like Houston, the Bulls had a problem.
Seriously, can there ever be a Rockets story without that tired cliché?
So with 2:18 left in overtime, Houston’s Cam Whitmore lined up a three for what looked like it would be an eight-point Houston lead and a lot of confusion of how the Bulls managed to lose this one.
Until LaVine wouldn’t allow it, and 32 seconds later following that Whitmore miss, a LaVine traditional three-point play with a streak for a score and free throw, and then a three-pointer, suddenly the Bulls had the 120-119 lead with 1:46 left in overtime.
“We were playing really well throughout the whole game, and then obviously the fourth quarter didn’t look good; guys overpassed a little bit and they started clicking offensively,” LaVine explained. “We were a little stuck, playing slow, missed a couple of shots. They got off to a five, six-point lead (in overtime). It’s a turning point where they are either going to make something (and the game) is going to go south…try to just create something to make it happen. I attacked when the defense wasn’t set. The next time down got behind the three-point line, so I was just looking for an opportunity.”
And then again after the Rockets missed on a drive and a follow and Houston decided, ooops, better double that guy LaVine. So LaVine passed on top of the floor to DeMar DeRozan, who swung the ball into the left corner for Coby time.
Make that 123-119 Bulls with a minute left in overtime, and there just wasn’t much Rockets fuel left.
Don’t bother sitting down because this Bulls team is rising.
Sure, it’s just 18-21 for the Bulls with Wednesday’s win. But the light is becoming brighter as the Bulls get closer to the surface of relevancy in the Eastern Conference.
And that they’re bringing a two-time All-Star and Olympic gold medalist back into the lineup after more than a month away — call me crazy, but — that actually seems like a good thing.
“Getting downhill saying, ‘I’m going to get to the cup and then make the read.’ When he’s aggressive first, that’s how we want him to be,” said White about his locker mate LaVine, the only Bulls left from the previous management regime. “We’ve been playing together since I’ve been in the NBA, so we’ve got a good connection. The vibe is great (with this team). We’ve been in this together; win, lose whatever happens. Big time players make big time plays. He was just making the right plays. He was aggressive. He got downhill on one, then made the three. I came down and the pullup three and we took the lead; it’s that simple.”
And maybe these Bulls finally have found the formula, especially now that White is emerging as an NBA star and LaVine, DeRozan and Nikola Vučević continue in their roles. DeRozan had 19 points and Vučević had 18 points and 15 rebounds.
But the Bulls also had 31 assists and made 19-of-47 threes; the Bulls had nine steals with LaVine and Patrick Williams getting three each, and the Bulls outplayed and out hustled the young Rockets until those last gruesome five minutes of regulation inefficiency. The Rockets did have a chance at the winner at the buzzer, which went long on a three just after DeRozan dribbled around for 22 seconds and missed a 20-footer to win with about two seconds left.
But then Zach and Coby, the holdovers, took care of that second consecutive overtime win for the Bulls.
“Obviously, overcoming some bumps and hurdles,” said LaVine. “Guys getting their rhythm back. Everyone is competing and sharing the ball.”
Including the often polarizing LaVine, who has been the subject of everything this season from trade rumors to addition-by-subtraction calculations. But with his return and the way he can add big shots and crucial plays with his speed and athletic abilities that no one else on the roster is capable of, perhaps the Bulls with their patience have stumbled into a formula that can sustain.
“Going out there giving guys a little boost offensively, defensively, being a weapon people have to worry about,” said LaVine. “If I can get downhill and create some chaos in the paint; just trying to play the way they’ve been playing the last month.”
The Bulls have won three straight, and two were against a decimated and mostly uncompetitive Charlotte team. But there are signs with eight wins in the last 12 games, stirring finishes to close games, and now, particularly, more options with the return of LaVine to high-level status. It’s put Williams back as sixth man since Donovan relies on Alex Caruso for defensive play. Caruso played the entire overtime and most of the latter stages of the fourth quarter with that starting group.
So the playing time is moving up for them with all but Caruso playing more than 40 minutes and DeRozan almost 43. But the Bulls can worry about that later with a good thing going, and looking like it might have some staying power.
“We’re still missing a big piece in T-Craig,” White said about Torrey out with his plantar fasciitis injury. “But we’re excited to get back whole. I’m just happy those guys are getting back to do what they love. I feel like we’re still trying to play at a fast pace, move the ball, make quick decisions. And those guys have been great since they’ve come back running the floor, especially Zach making quick decisions and Vooch doing his thing, playing the pocket, being that connective force and having that presence.”
It looked almost perfect for the first 43 minutes.
DeRozan began operating early with 10 first-quarter points as he probably quickly saw himself as a casino floor facing a bunch of guys with stuffed pockets. The Rockets, mostly unruly kids, were jumping all over the place for DeRozan’s fakes as the Bulls eased to a 28-24 lead after one quarter. Houston also is one of those ugly modern teams of kids who mostly practice the dunk and the three. They missed 9-of-10 threes in the first quarter on the way to 11-of-45. That’s it guys, keep shooting ‘em.
Even DeRozan in the first quarter made more threes than the entire Rockets roster, DeRozan staring back at the Houston bench with a laugh after his second. You know he was hearing something like take another old man; so he did and the kids had to time out.
The Bulls extended to a 62-54 halftime lead as White got hot for 11 second-quarter points and 3-of-3 on three-pointers; a three jamboree, if you will.
LaVine assisted on all three, finding White cross court on drives and drop off passes behind as the defense retreated against LaVine’s pressure and presence.
“I’ve known Coby, what, six years?” mused LaVine. “The way he’s playing right now, the growth of his game is incredible. The stretch he’s on, we want to keep him on that type of rhythm, obviously, and when I’m on the break I have a sense of finding him on the break or pitching the ball to him when he’s behind me. That’s my guy. He’s been through a lot the last three, four years. So it’s good to see him where he is; it’s great.”
The Bulls also were outworking the Rockets kids, breaking from a 41 tie midway through the second quarter with LaVine getting a block against Jalen Green, grabbing the loose ball and throwing ahead for the first White three. Caruso then got a block from behind on center Alperen Şengün. LaVine got the rebound, and out running he went to find White for another three. And so it went with LaVine contributing a three faking his defender into a fly by and resetting casually for his three, the Bulls with a little show-ya-how-it’s-done with eight of 11 threes in the second quarter.
“Aggressive, decisive, making the right play off his aggressiveness, that’s how we want him to be,” White said about LaVine.
It was more Bulls and more of that appealing play, pace, space and in your face as the Rockets got a jump ball with Şengün having a huge height edge and Caruso simply stepping right to where he was guiding the tip — don’t these guys have game tapes — and Williams with a pair of steals in just over a minute late in the third quarter as the Bulls went to the fourth leading 94-83. And then pushing their lead up to 101-85 with 9:08 left in the game.
And then who knows what the heck happened, including a play that surely had the Raptors coach also shaking his head about the officiating. Now, we do have to say something in defense of NBA officials. Which is, have you ever watched an NFL game? I never get the immense popularity of the sport since every game I’ve ever seen gets decided by an official in the last few minutes with a holding or interference call. Oh, the gambling, right.
Anyway, the Bulls were struggling to hang on and this suddenly isn’t looking too good. Caruso missing his seventh of nine threes, Zach with a turnover on a drive, DeMar with a short miss. And then the Bulls get what seems like an incredible break after DeRozan dribbled around awhile and got stuck and passed outside to White, who had to launch a three with about a second on the shot clock. And hit nothing.
Tweet! What, screamed the Rockets. Oh, blast!
It seems an official called a fish-in-the-rowboat DeRozan for being fouled under the basket even as the ball missed everything and the shot clock seemed expired. There was some discussion and challenges and the decision came to be DeRozan was fouled, but he simultaneously also was called for flopping on the play with his exaggerated fall that looked like he’d gotten attacked by a murder of crows in a Hitchcock movie.
Or maybe a cloud of grasshoppers or a zeal of zebras. Or an embarrassment of pandas. I know, but have you ever watched those bears? Embarrassing. Anyway, DeMar was OK.
So, Coby, what did you think of that call?
“Hey, I don’t know the rules, I just hoop,” White said in seeking to avoid penalty. “I don’t understand how it can be a foul and a flop. But that’s above my pay grade; I don’t work in that field. The refs do the best job they can every single night.”
Did we all say how much the Bulls love and respect NBA officials?
They hardly influenced this result, anyway, as Vučević lined up a long three that almost dented the rim. And then Donovan called for the DeRozan isolation in the middle of the floor, Donovan said, so Houston wouldn’t try to double team or trap, which was a tendency of theirs in those situations.
But they got the flopping free throw and Şengün for the driving tie at 112 with 23.2 seconds left.
Before overtime and Zach time.
Meaning more good times for the Bulls? May well be to the surprise of many.
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