Tonight’s game felt a lot like the broccolini served with your steaks. Yes, I see it’s on my plate, but it’s the last thing I’m thinking about.
With the NBA trade deadline in full effect, the battle between the Bulls and Heat felt like filler. This is especially true when we consider the three players acquired in the Zach LaVine deal sat in street clothes behind the bench. Whether or not those three will suit up for the Bulls or be rerouted elsewhere remains to be seen. There are a lot of questions that still have to be answered, and many of those overshadowed what happened at the United Center on Tuesday night.
Nonetheless, the players in uniform did a decent job of blocking out the noise. While they got off to a relatively sluggish start that led to a quick 12-2 deficit, things turned around fast. The Bulls’ second unit continued their recent trend of shifting the momentum.
Matas Buzelis checked in and instantly provided a spark, flying for an alley-oop slam, attacking Nikola Jovic off the dribble, and taking advantage of a mismatch on Terry Rozier. Patrick Williams also proceeded to drain back-to-back threes before Jalen Smith made one of his own with 28.0 seconds left. While the Heat still finished the high-scoring frame with a 37-32 lead, the young Bulls were showing some encouraging fight.
Miami’s experience won out going into halftime. Tyler Herro and Co. shot 10-18 from the field and drained eight free throws. This helped bump their lead up to 70-60 by the end of the quarter. Still, the Bulls felt like they were on the brink of making this a game even with a double-digit deficit. A big reason for that was the play of Buzelis, who went a perfect 7-7 in the first half to lead the team with 15 points.
The run we were all waiting for arrived shortly after coming out of the locker room. The Bulls strung together a 14-3 stretch in about two minutes of action to claim a 78-77 lead. They got four threes from four different players during that run. Eric Spoelstra’s team was the furthest thing from rattled, however, and they would use a balanced inside-outside game to pretty easily reclaim a 103-94 lead heading into the last 12 minutes.
Chicago had every reason to crumble. They are in the thick of a trade deadline sell-off that is meant to bolster their lottery odds. If the bench wasn’t feeling inspired, I don’t think anyone would have blamed them. But that’s precisely why the fourth quarter was so impressive.
Chicago would go on to outscore Miami 39-21 to close things out and win 133-124. The victory was led entirely by their young core, which did an excellent job attacking and finished 8-11 in the paint during the quarter. Buzelis also stayed hot and rained two threes to finish the night a perfect 10-10 for the field with 24 points. The Bulls also had four different players score 20+, as Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Josh Giddey joined Buzelis.
Did they actually put on a defensive clinic in the fourth quarter? No. They definitely got lucky with Miami shooting only 7-24 from the field, including 4-10 in the paint. But they played with as much heart down the stretch as we had seen all season long, and this almost felt like an official passing of the torch. With LaVine officially out of the picture, the young players made a point to show this is their team now.
Player Grades:
Matas Buzelis – A+
Stats: 24 PTS, 3 REB, 2 BLK
What needs to be said? The rookie shot a perfect 10-10 from the field and flashed almost everything that makes him such a tantalizing prospect. He flew for dunks, spun past defenders, broke some ankles, and splashed threes. Yes, it’s only one game, but the future looks very bright for the No. 11 overall pick.
Ayo Dosunmu – A
Stats: 21 PTS, 9 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK
Ayo Dosunmu picked apart the Heat’s defense at times and killed them with his acceleration. He’s another player who will see an uptick in scoring opportunities with LaVine officially elsewhere. Tonight, he took advantage of that.
Josh Giddey – A-
Stats: 24 PTS, 7 AST, 5 REB
A surprisingly efficient night from Josh Giddey, who shot 8-14 from the field and tied his season-high with eight free throw attempts. The more he can embrace physicality with his six-foot-eight frame the better.
Coby White – B+
Stats: 22 PTS, 7 AST, 3 REB
The Chicago Bulls finished the evening with 35 assists in large part thanks to White’s pace and decision-making. He hit a couple of clutch shots down the stretch, stepping into the crunch-time scoring role that is there for the taking.
Box Score:
Check out the full box score here.