The up-and-down, mysterious season for Chicago continues after their win in tonight's game against New Orleans, 114-106. They haven't been playing great basketball, but haven't been playing bad enough to knock them out of playoff contention. All year they've been floating around the 7-10 seed range, qualifying them for a play-in opportunity. This team is impossible to figure out. They'll go on losing streaks left and right, and then pick up impressive wins against good teams like the Pelicans along the way. Here's what took place this evening.
With the major injuries that Lavine, Williams, and Craig are dealing with, the starting lineup consisted of a tiny group. PG: Coby White, SG: Ayo Dosunmu, SF: Demar DeRozan, PF: Alex Caruso, and C: Nikola Vucevic. This small ball squad prevailed though, as they had to climb their way out from a 12-point deficit in the second half. The Bulls took the lead early in the game limiting the Pelicans to 21 first quarter points. After a 28-21 start, New Orleans stormed back in the second quarter, posting 39 points, ending the half strong. The Bulls now trailed 60-57 at intermission. They trailed by 12 points in the second half, but stayed resilient and finished strong. After going back and forth late in the game, Demar DeRozan sank a dagger three, extending Chicago's lead to a two-possession margin. The Bulls got away with one here. New Orleans's point guards were sidelined so they had much trouble handling the ball, finishing the game with 19 turnovers. Brandon Ingram had a whopping nine turnovers just by himself.
DeRozan led the Bulls in scoring with 24 points and followed it with a half-dozen rebounds and seven assists. Vucevic was right behind him with 22 points and 13 rebounds. The X-Factor of the night, Ayo Dosunmu, finished with 21 points, eight assists, and three steals. He finished the 1st quarter with 14 points and set the tone for Chicago early on. Coby White shot an inefficient 5-18 but ended the game with 16 points, seven boards, and two steals. Caruso was all over the place tonight. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds, and a pair of assists and steals. His impact on the defensive end was spectacular tonight, as he played immaculate defense on Ingram and Zion late in the game. Caruso is the true testament to "heart over height" and allows the Bulls' small ball lineup to work.
Chicago is still five games back from the No. 8 seed, but they are continuing to distance themselves from the 10 seed as they are up five games on the Hawks. With Trae Young out for over a month, the Bulls shouldn't worry much about falling out of play-in contention. With wins against good teams like the Pelicans, it gives glimmers of hope to see if they can make the actual playoffs, but they'll need to do it with their defense. Losing Lavine, Williams, and Craig is a big deal and will hinder their chances of making a deep postseason run.
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