With a seventh victory in their last ten outings, against LeBron James' Lakers who were celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their first meeting in Chicago, the Bulls confirmed their revival.
As against Philly, with six players at ten points or more, Billy Donovan's squad beat the Lakers last night by playing it collectively, sharing the leather and finishing with eight players at ten points or more, behind a DeMar DeRozan radiant (27 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds).
“Point DeRozan”
Not so long ago, the Bulls were on the verge of implosion with an asynchronous “Big Three”, one element of which had desires elsewhere (Zach LaVine). But since the latter's injury, and the establishment of a better balanced and more altruistic offensive system, Chicago has risen from its ashes.
“This is how we should play,” explains DeMar DeRozan in The Athletic. “We have to be unpredictable. We have to understand that we are a group of guys who can play quickly and collectively, and that's where we become difficult to play. We have to trust each other and find the best shots possible. »
With 7 assists per game over the last ten games, DeMar DeRozan has become the de facto chief general of the Bulls in the offensive phase. It was he who became the first creator, ready to let go of the ball as soon as a second defender came up on him.
“I just read the defense. I know that in every match, I will have the best opposing defender on my back, and the game plan that targets me. I just try to play with it and find a way to involve my teammates as much as possible. It worked pretty well for us. »
Coby White lives again!
One of the big winners of this new situation is Coby White. Having fallen to less than 10 points for the first time in his career last season (in 23 minutes), he is simply having his best campaign at the moment, averaging 17 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. A clear revival that does not go unnoticed…
“They move the ball really well”recognizes, nice player, Darvin Ham. “Their pace is impressive, whether on the full court but also on the half court. They are very strong on the “drive and kick”. And sometimes, these things happen: you lose one of your major players and that gives other players a chance to take playing time and more important roles. They have several guys playing at a high level, starting with Coby White. »
The Bulls' top scorer in five of the last ten games, Coby White was even his team's best rebounder and best passer in the prestigious victory against Philadelphia the other night, with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Like other young players on the squad, such as Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu and Dalen Terry, he grabbed his chance with both hands!
“Honestly, I think we deserve [notre réussite actuelle] »concludes Coby White. “Especially after our start to the season where we were getting a lot of these shots but it wasn’t falling. Now it's starting to fall in. I think the fact that we're playing a lot faster opens up a lot of possibilities for our game in terms of shooting 3-pointers in transition and not playing against a set defense. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Demar Derozan | 26 | 36.4 | 44.1 | 36.8 | 82.3 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 22.2 |
| Zach Lavine | 18 | 35.3 | 44.3 | 33.6 | 86.6 | 0.3 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 21.0 |
| Coby White | 28 | 34.7 | 45.2 | 42.4 | 83.1 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 17.5 |
| Nikola Vucevic | 28 | 34.4 | 45.3 | 27.9 | 86.0 | 2.9 | 7.6 | 10.5 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 16.7 |
| Patrick Williams | 28 | 27.0 | 43.5 | 39.1 | 73.5 | 1.2 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 9.5 |
| Alex Caruso | 22 | 23.0 | 54.0 | 45.3 | 75.0 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 9.4 |
| Ayo Dosunmu | 26 | 20.8 | 47.6 | 34.8 | 73.1 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 6.9 |
| Torrey Craig | 27 | 21.2 | 42.4 | 38.2 | 78.3 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 6.1 |
| Andrew Drummond | 28 | 13.2 | 50.4 | 0.0 | 59.7 | 2.9 | 3.9 | 6.8 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 6.0 |
| Jevon Carter | 28 | 14.2 | 37.3 | 35.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 5.2 |
| Dalen Terry | 12 | 6.5 | 35.3 | 20.0 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Julian Phillips | 15 | 4.6 | 29.4 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Terry Taylor | 6 | 2.1 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Onuralp Bitim | 1 | 3.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
