LaVine to the rescue as Bulls sink Rockets in OT |
CHICAGO - When Billy Donovan announced that Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic would return to the starting lineup, it drew mixed reviews from most of the fans. On the one hand, both of them provide the starting five with some much-needed consistent scoring, which this team still needs to improve at times this season.
On the other hand, the chemistry this team built over the past month can't be ignored, and many fans were worried that their chemistry would get messed up, forcing them into another tailspin like earlier this season. The two who suffered the most from Lavine and Vucevic's return were Patrick Williams and Andre Drummond, as both returned to the Bulls bench to face the Houston Rockets (18-18) at the United Center. With Houston entering the game as the second defense in the league, the Chicago Bulls (18-21) would need all hands on deck, and it was the starting five that delivered in a big way. Any time you can outscore a team in three of the four quarters you play, you're putting your team in a great position to win, as the Bulls were in command most of the night. After leading by as many as 16 in the second half, the Bulls saw their lead cut to 11 after three before completely failing to close things out down the stretch. Even with all five starters landing in double figures, the final three minutes of this game were not pretty as the Rockets rallied from 16 down to force Overtime after outscoring the Bulls 27-16 in the final quarter. Houston continued to make life miserable early on in Overtime as they jumped out to the 119-114 lead and had the Bulls searching for answers. That is when the Lavine of old took over to come away with six consecutive points, including a go-ahead triple to put Chicago in front for good before picking up the 124-119 win. Since returning from IR, Lavine has showed flashes of his old self at times, but has been rusty when it comes to his shot. Not only was rust not a factor in this one, but this was about as good as Lavine has been in quite some time, finishing with 25 points while hauling in a career-high 13 rebounds for a double-double. He may have been the closer in this one. Still, the entire Bulls starting five scored in double figures including Coby White who continues to pace the Bulls offense with a game-high 30 points and eight assits, White continues to make a case for being an all-star and the Bulls overall play has taken off because of it. He has been one of the reasons the Bulls were able to withstand Lavine's absence, as he has taken his game to a brand new level. Vucevic also returned to doing his thing after turning in two great games in a reserve role. With 18 points, Vucevic was third on the team in scoring, but he did pull in 15 boards to give the Bulls two double-double performers. Chicago also received 19 points from Demar DeRozan and 12 from Alex Caruso, as their starting five delivered most of the production. With the changes to the starting lineup, Williams and Drummond returned to the bench, where they will be seeing fewer minutes. Sometimes, it's not about how many minutes you get, but instead what you do with those minutes as they combined for only nine points. Ayo Dosunmu made up for that with his eight points, but the Bulls need more help from their second unit. It's no secret that the Rocket's early season success, making them one of the surprise stories in the league, stems from Ime Udoka, who continues to be one of the league's best coaches. Considering the Rockets went through a significant roster overhaul to start the year, some weren't sold on Udoka, but they are now as he continues to impress. Speaking of impressing, Alperen Sengun remains one of the most overlooked players in the league this season and has been playing outstanding. He led the Rockets with 25 points to go with nine boards. Free agent pickup Fred VanVleet has also had one of his best seasons as a pro this season, and with 20 points to go with 10 assists, he is just what this team needed offensively this season. Like the Bulls, five players landed in double figures, with four coming from the starting lineup, as Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr each added 18 points. Considering Jaesean Tate had only three points in 18 minutes, that was the difference in the game, but Cam Whitmore picked up his slack with 16 points off the bench. The biggest difference in this one came from beyond the arc, where the Bulls beat the Rockets at their own game. Despite shooting only two more triples (47) to that of the Rockets, the Bulls outscored Houston by 24 from deep as they connected on 19 of their 47 attempts compared to just 11-45 by Houston. That type of shooting isn't the norm for this team, but if they can consistently shoot like that, this team will be tough down the stretch.
