So why did it take the Bulls 75 games to think of it?
Just run the offense through Alex “the Third Splash Brother” Caruso, who Sunday made seven three-pointers to go along with his typical five steals, to lead the Bulls to a 109-101 victory over the Western Conference contending Minnesota Timberwolves.
So maybe the Bulls can continue to ride Downtown Alex Caruso, though they might need a petition to address their other big problem lately, that being their home in the Eastern Conference. The win, which brought the Bulls to 36-39 and gave them some space from 10th place and Monday United Center visitor Atlanta, was yet another against the supposedly superior Western Conference. Against whom the Bulls have had the most success this season with the second most wins to league leading Boston among East teams against Western Conference opponents.
Maybe just a 40-mile move to West Chicago could change things?
Though for now what changed things was Caruso 7-of-8 on threes, and what didn’t change, which was another clutch closing performance from DeMar DeRozan, who led the Bulls with 27 points and eight assists. Bulls-eye Alex added 21 points, Nikola Vučević had 19 points and Coby White came out of his shooting funk with 17 points on four of six threes with the closer assuring the win with 18 seconds left after the Timberwolves seemed to regain control and the lead with about five minutes remaining. The Bulls had led by 16 points early in the third quarter.
But then after Rudy Gobert finished yet another Timberwolves second chance for a 97-96 lead with 5:21 left in regulation and had extended that to 99-96, DeRozan ripped a dribble from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and scored on the runout. And then after Jaden McDaniels missed and Gobert gagged up a pair of free throws, DeRozan stood tall for a three.
Anthony Edwards, whom Caruso defended as well as you can, missed. And then DeRozan L-shaped the ball to Alex “the Shot” Caruso for his seventh three via a he's-ready-for-Olympic-beach-volleyball two-hand tap from Vučević to Caruso for a 104-99 Bulls lead with 2:27 left.
It was pretty much over a few seconds later when Mike Conley got too deep and threw the ball away for a White breakaway. White then closed it with that final three, the Timberwolves aiding by missing their last nine three-point tries.
Like White says, make or miss league as the Bulls — yes, the Bulls — were 17-of-29 (59%) on threes to Minnesota’s woeful 11-of-37.
But it’s who makes them and who misses, and it’s no fluke for Caruso this season going over 40% on threes for the season and 63% the last five games.
Right, and the five steals and helping hold the explosive Edwards to 22 points and 0-for-six on threes.
“AC was amazing, the passion, the will; definitely one of a kind,” said DeRozan admiringly. “For a guy who’s been banged up throughout the year, every time he steps out there on the court he lays it out there, puts his heart and soul into the game. It’s amazing to have a teammate like that. For him to carry us tonight for what he did on both ends of the floor is a sign of his greatness and the heart and mindset he has toward the game.
“He’s too smart of a basketball player to be overlooked,” said DeRozan about the undrafted two-time G League graduate. “He knows how to play the game at a high level. Not just defensively; obviously, that part stands out. But he’s one of the smartest basketball players I’ve ever played with. His IQ to the game is amazing. When you have someone that smart, they know where to be offensively and make it easier on everybody else.”
And talk about mixing in with everyone else.
Perhaps that may remind you of Forrest Gump as this version of the Chicago Bulls.
Like Forrest says his mama told him about life, that it was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Too bad Winston Groom didn’t make him a basketball fan. He might have described this season’s version of the Bulls, the blowout win over Indiana last week after the home loss to Washington, the road loss in Brooklyn before the road win in Minnesota. Road wins in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Golden State and New Orleans, home losses to Toronto and Detroit.
“It’s frustrating because we know our capabilities,” admitted DeRozan. “We know we can beat anybody. So when we lose the games where I see it all the time, where Twitter goes crazy on us, like we’re the most confusing team. It’s definitely frustrating because that’s not us. When we go out and perform the way we did tonight, that’s who we are. It’s all about being consistent and these last however many games, we gotta play this way.”
C’mon, he’s looking at Twitter? They told us they’re always watching film.
“Another Dateline episode,” quipped DeRozan about another shocking Bulls story of rising from seemingly being left fro dead. “That says a lot about our character, our will to keep going, not to quit, to bounce back when things aren’t going our way. That’s a lot of character. You gotta have a group of guys that’s all in it together. It’s like the saying, we take the good with the bad, the bad with the good. Right, wrong or indifferent, we ride for one another and we show that every single night.”
Sort of like Churchill’s, “This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.”
Better to have a chocolate. You might get the milky one.
This one predictably also wasn’t clear until right to the end despite the Bulls with Caruso’s four for four first quarter threes taking the reins from the start. The Timberwolves barely kicked, or howled, with a 33-22 Bulls first quarter, the Bulls up 52-36 midway through the second quarter, by 10 at halftime and back to that 16 lead four minutes into the third quarter.
“All year long they’ve been one to three in the West,” reminded Bulls coach Billy Donovan about the Timberwolves, whom the Bulls pushed to third. “They’ve been one of the better teams in the league. You know they’re going to make a run. I was really impressed with the way our guys responded. DeMar was clutch coming down the stretch, Coby’s three was big, Vooch getting a big assist, AC’s defense. Everybody contributed.”
And especially Donovan, who often is questioned about his preference to default to smaller lineups.
This time it probably determined the win for the Bulls.
That’s because Donovan, who usually likes to match to opponents, fought off the temptation when the Timberwolves started centers Gobert and Naz Reid. Karl-Anthony Towns is out for the season, moving up Reid, who isn’t quite as tall or mobile. And tends to defer to the paint. Which wasn’t a particularly good idea this game since he was supposed to be defending Caruso. Who, yes, isn’t known as a three-point threat. And as Caruso noted the other day with Ayo Dosunmu hot lately and White with DeRozan, the poorest defender usually is told to find Caruso.
It’s unlikely Reid checked the recent stats as he left Caruso, and swoosh Caruso did, those four in the first to kick start the Bulls, seven overall and seemingly too hot even for the Swoosh.
“Just staying true to the work,” said Caruso, who has more than doubled his career most threes made this season. “I think I was shooting like low 40s, high 40s, something crazy to start the season. I was able to get reps in the summer, but then percentages dropped a little during the year because I was a little banged up and didn’t have the time, wasn’t able to get into the gym to work on my game as much as I would have liked. So the comfort level wasn’t as nice. Just focused through All-Star Break, coming out of All-Star break, staying true to the work. Then just being aggressive and trusting it. I think it’s shown the last couple games I’m shooting pretty well because I know where I’m going to get the shots and just trusting the work I’ve been able to put in.
“College, maybe once,” Caruso said about making seven threes in a game. “I remember I had a really good game in the tournament against Missouri with Jordan Clarkson. I don’t remember if I hit seven, though. High school I probably did. I didn’t have a lot of self control in high school. I was just trying to run through all the passing lanes and shoot and dunk, so I probably did sometime.”
But the defense is always there.
Caruso showed it often and again late in the third quarter against the powerful Edwards, thwarting him in isolation on consecutive possessions, the second time with help from fellow kamikaze Javonte Green.
Caruso’s a guy, as the idiom goes, who defensively is going to be in your shoes.
And then Zion-like the Dunkman actually came out of his.
Well, sorta, as in the fourth quarter Caruso sneakers tore and he later posted, I assume on Twitter, the need for new sneakers. I’m told they name them like your favorite stuffed animal, these being, according to Caruso, “Kobe 4 fade to blacks.” I call mine Keds and PF Flyers.
“One of the late plays,” confirmed Caruso. “It would’ve been a Mike Conley missed three in the right corner. I was trailing and jumped up to try to get a rearview contest and landed on my left foot and my insoles just slid out of the bottom, Zion-like from Duke.”
Just another explosive dunker, that Alex.
“Back half of my foot wasn’t on, was just on the bottom of the shoe,” Caruso pointed out. “It was probably just my shoes were old. They were good luck shoes. Obviously, now I gotta retire em. Shout out to our equipment guys; they were on the spot ready to get me new shoes. I didn’t use ‘em. I ended up using Torrey’s (Craig).”
It’s said that you can't really understand another person's experience until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Though Caruso’s are big shoes to fill.
So don’t be so quick to criticize, especially these Bulls. Because before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. So you’re a winner, just like the Bulls were Sunday in Minneapolis.
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