Chicago Bulls defeat Charlotte Hornets 120-99 as Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević return to the lineup, but fail to gain ground in the race for the play-in tournament
The Chicago Bulls had two days off for the first time since the trade deadline in March, and it sure looked like they benefited from the extra rest in Thursday’s 120-99 victory against the Charlotte Hornets.
The Bulls, who were as sharp as they have been in months, were on the Hornets from the beginning of the game. Maybe it was the extra rest, the fact that both of their All-Stars were together in the lineup for the first time in weeks or the Bulls just playing their best basketball against the Hornets — who they swept 3-0 in the season series — but it was an inspired effort for a team with its back against the wall.
“We got to fight for our lives every game,” said guard Zach LaVine, who scored 13 points in 27 minutes in his first game in three weeks. “So whatever it takes to win. That’s what I kept telling everybody.”
The issue for the Bulls is that it might be too late to mount a true charge. They took care of business to keep hope alive, but their odds remain slim. The Washington Wizards also won on Thursday — in overtime against the Toronto Raptors — to maintain a 3 1/2 game lead over the Bulls with six games to play.
Bulls offense clicks in Zach LaVine’s return
It had been three weeks since Zach LaVine last played a game after missing the past 11 games in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
“Felt good,” he said with a wide smile. “Real tired, but I felt good. It just felt good to play again, man.”
LaVine acknowledged he might need a few games to get his stamina and rhythm back after missing such an extended stretch in quarantine, and coach Billy Donovan used him in short spurts on Thursday to preserve his energy.
Even though LaVine did not have his usual scoring punch, the Bulls offense benefited from having him back on the court. They scored 30 points in the first quarter for only the second time in the past 11 games and racked up 120 points after being held under 100 in four straight games.
“Zach, he creates so much attention,” Donovan said. “You always feel good when he shoots... but I also think too coming off of him being out for three weeks, I think the respect he has for his teammates he could kind of fit in and take his shots when they’re there and not try to force things.”
The Bulls are in do-or-die mode to salvage their season, so LaVine is also expected to play in the second half of a back-to-back Friday night. He might still be working his way back into shape, but the Bulls will benefit from having him on the floor.
“As long as I can go out there and help, I’ll be happy with that,” LaVine said. “Coach decided to play me in little increments to see how I am, and it felt good. Defensively, it almost felt better just chasing people around than offensively. I’m getting my timing back. A couple of the threes were short, but I found my rhythm eventually. I didn’t want to go out there and overdo it.”
Coby White remains in the starting lineup
The Bulls used yet another starting lineup on Thursday, keeping Coby White in as the point guard with LaVine and Nikola Vučević returning to the group. Patrick Williams and Daniel Theis added a pair of strong defenders to round out the lineup and form a unit that had some success.
“We’re a lot bigger,” LaVine said. “We can switch a lot of different things. We’re playing those two guys in the frontcourt, it just gives us more options, some high-low stuff, some double-screens for the guards, our rebounding felt like it was a lot better. It just felt like we were a bigger team.”
White is the key player here. He played well in LaVine’s absence, but the Bulls have struggled defensively with both he and LaVine on the court together and failed to score enough to make up for it. But White had another solid game on Thursday, with 14 points on 5 of 12 shooting and six assists.
“I’ll have to see how it goes, but I felt good about the group and how they played,” Donovan said. “I also felt good about the second unit.”
Nikola Vučević continues his 3-point success
Nikola Vučević hadn’t been out of the lineup as long as Zach LaVine, but he looked refreshed after missing the past two games with a hip injury he had recently played through. He finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds and knocked down 5 of his 7 3-point attempts.
It continued what has been a career-year from beyond the arc for Vučević this season. He is shooting 41% from 3 on about six attempts per game, which are both career marks. The 3-point shot was not always part of Vučević's game, but Frank Vogel — who is now head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers — encouraged Vučević to shoot more 3s when they were together with the Orlando Magic.
“What really kinda changed it for me was last year’s playoff series against the (Milwaukee) Bucks where, the way they defend, I was able to get a lot of open looks,” Vučević said. “I was able to see how that helped myself, how it helped the team, how it was just another weapon I could add to my game. And just really that series is when it kind of clicked in my mind to where I just started feeling much more comfortable there than before about shooting that.”
