If it took a week and some soul searching, the risk of ridicule, considerable drama and excitement and some untimely defeats perhaps it will prove worth it in the long run with the Bulls 112-105 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
Because perhaps the Bulls discovered who they are.
They are not a three-point shooting Golden State mimic or team-wide Moses Malone and Dennis Rodman offensive rebounding terrors. But the diligent, determined and defensive blue collar workers supported by just enough flash.
The gilded optimism of preseason when every shot is the right one and every possibility is within reach often quickly collides with the reality of the regular season when the games count and you are called on for accountability.
The Bulls endured a wave of that losing badly in the home opener, meeting about it, stealing an overtime win that required a month’s worth of dramatics and then being pushed around to start this three-game road trip. So Monday in Indianapolis against a young Pacers team, the Bulls may have waived a bunch of the preseason agenda. Not so many threes, not a race to the offensive boards, and not so fast. But just enough for a relatively comfortable win.
“We were more patient reading what they were doing defensively, attacking certain matchups and attacking the paint,” said Nikola Vučević, who broke out with 24 points and 17 rebounds. “We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but we stuck with it and kept attacking. Now are we going to do it consistently enough?"
“We definitely haven’t played our best basketball, and to be at .500 is much better than if we were like 1-3 or 0-4,” Vučević observed. “Better to learn from winning than losses. It’s kind of positive we’re at .500 and haven’t played that well. So we know there is a lot of room for improvement. Are we going to improve and are we going get there? That’s the question.”
So the Bulls are 2-2 with 78 games to go and all that, but Monday could have been a reawakening.
The Bulls attempted just 17 threes and made six. It did help that the Pacers were an ugly 12 of 46 on threes, and much of their idea of a good three seemed to be if the player taking it was alive. But the Bulls also made a lot of those shots difficult.
There was all this talk of averaging perhaps 40 three-point attempts per game. But the reality may be the Bulls just don’t have enough volume shooters. The Bulls did grab a healthy 10 offensive rebounds against Indiana. But five were by Vučević mostly on second shots. There wasn’t so much crashing in from the wings for second shots. Instead, much like previously, the Bulls concentrated on getting back on defense and forcing Indiana to play more slowly in the half court.
That’s anathema for a young group like Indiana’s that depends on a faster pace, transition layups and room to shoot threes. Instead, the Bulls were able to slow the Pacers and force them into half court decisions, not a specialty for the younger guys.
In addition, the Bulls have the veteran savvy defenders like Alex Caruso and Torrey Craig who can blow up those screens and close out forcing rushed shots.
Caruso had eight points and a vital driving dunk late in the game, but his box score line looked anemic with three turnovers and zero steals. Quite the contrary. Caruso was velcro for Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who did have 19 points and 13 assists. But just two points in the fourth quarter.
Caruso was picking up Haliburton in the backcourt and denying him the inbound pass, forcing lesser regarded Pacers players to bring the ball up. Which further slowed the Pacers offense by making someone else make the play. It was a prime strategy the champion Bulls of the 1990s often deployed with the likes of Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to limit teams with primary creators, like Phoenix with Kevin Johnson and Cleveland with Mark Price.
Caruso played almost eight minutes in the fourth quarter in finishing the game for Patrick Williams. Bulls coach Billy Donovan obviously is leaning on Caruso, who saved the Toronto win and is averaging a second-most in his career in minutes.
The Bulls got 23 points from Zach LaVine after his career-best 51 points Saturday in Detroit and 20 points from DeMar DeRozan. Both combined for 12-of-36 shooting overall. But they were smartly used as closers with crucial baskets down the stretch as the Bulls did a good job of seeking out favorable matchups when Indiana went with more offensive players to respond to the Bulls taking a 103-99 lead with three minutes remaining.
Layups by LaVine, DeRozan and finally Vučević waving frantically from the right corner and DeRozan finally finding him against gave the Bulls a big enough lead to hold off some ambiguities at the end.
“We got aggressive kind of going at certain matchups,” said DeRozan. “We tried to get their weakest defenders. I think we did a great job executing and reading what they were throwing at us.”
The trio scored 27 of the Bulls' 34 fourth quarter points.
“We have too many good offensive players to not be efficient at the end like that,” commended Vučević.
With just over a minute left and the Pacers throwing a trap at LaVine, LaVine on the floor got mixed up with three Pacers and pushed off and got assessed a technical foul. When Myles Turner ran in there was something of a brouhaha that didn’t quite get combustible. But some Bulls players apparently were off the bench, so that could be adjudicated by the league.
There was some trainers’ work to be considered throughout as Coby White had to take a trip back to the locker room for a shot in the mouth. Torrey Craig was reeling on the bench for awhile after what seemed a shot to the head. So much for Hoosier hospitality.
The Bulls also won the strategy battles when Pacers coach Rick Carlisle lost a challenge on a foul of Caruso that enabled Caruso to make one of two free throws for a 110-105 lead with 32.2 seconds left. And then when DeRozan shortly thereafter was called for what would have been a three-shot foul for Buddy Hield, Donovan challenged and won with 12.4 seconds left and the Bulls ahead by five.
Game, set and match.
Though we’ll get to the ugly tennis part later.
It, nevertheless, was a closely contested game even with the crooked Pacers shooting. There were 35 ties and lead changes in the game and 11 in the fourth quarter until the Bulls gained some control in the last two minutes.
The Bulls were six of those 17 on threes, had a three rebounds deficit as Turner had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and more importantly to Donovan had a margin of 10 points inside.
“I thought identity-wise we really tried to play to that for the whole game,” said Donovan. “We tried to move the ball, we didn’t take a lot of threes, we got downhill. Making quick decisions, moving the basketball; we stayed with it. DeMar and Zach didn’t have a good shooting night and that’s going to happen. If we can get everyone involved and play downhill, there’s plenty to go around for everybody. I didn’t feel like the ball stuck. But even if there weren’t a lot of passes (19 assists led by DeRozan with four), it was decisive. The moment we start holding the ball and start sizing guys up, the floor shrinks. Everybody is in help and it’s really hard to play like that. There’s enough for everyone to eat if we make quick decisions and can generate good looks.”
And especially good looking was Vučević, active in the post, calling for the ball.
And getting it in various ways.
Jevon Carter had his best game so far with 11 points, but also with particularly sharp with lead guard play. Indiana's Turner was in help situations often, so Carter made some hard drives to the basket and seemed intending to shoot high off the backboard where Vučević was able to follow against a smaller player for easy putbacks.
“I thought there were late switches in the pick and rolls and my teammates did a really good job of trying to find me and get me in positions where I could get good looks and also with offensive rebounds,” said Vučević. “When there was a switch, Myles Turner stayed with them. He contested the shot and I could follow with a smaller guy on me. Hopefully we keep playing like this we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”
So says Vooch. Remember him?
That may have been what he was saying post game in that opening night Bulls session even if DeRozan joked no one was quite sure.
“Big fella came and was dominant on the boards and did his thing tonight,” said DeRozan. “He cussed us out (last week) in his language and it paid off. We didn’t know what he said but we said, ‘All right. We’ve just got to be aware and take advantage of our key players.’ We’ve all got to step up in big moments, and Vooch did that tonight.”
There was Vučević that opening night flinging the ball at the basket stanchion, which he’s known to do in frustration, and then mutters. He’s had his share of technical fouls on a Bulls team which doesn’t get many.
And it turns out Americans might not even be the most foul mouthed people in the world. Talk about learning something important from this game.
“It happens in the moment if I get frustrated,” Vučević explained when asked about some of his adjectives. “I think it’s pretty common for players (in) that whole (Serbian) region in general. We all use curses quite a bit. Look at (Novak) Djokovic when he plays even with all his championships and being the greatest tennis player of all time. Sometimes things don’t go his way he gets upset and curses. I think it’s part of our culture and gets us fired up. And a lot of times it gets me going, but obviously to people around probably doesn’t sound as good.”
That’s OK, Vooch. Let it out. Sweet #$&%@#!
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