Thursday night’s game against the Spurs, the second night of a back-to-back, with the Bulls’ shots not falling early, would have had “loss” written all over it in November.
But these Bulls are no longer those Bulls.
Beating LeBron James and the Lakers 124-108 in an emotional game Wednesday, then overcoming a sleepy offensive showing through the first two quarters to beat the Spurs 114-95 the next night was significant growth to coach Billy Donovan. To do it in grinding, grimy fashion was even more satisfying. It was the kind of performance Donovan has been all but begging to see, even going back to last season.
“I felt like we clearly did not have the same pop to start the game that we did [against the Lakers], and that’s going to happen on a back-to-back,” Donovan said. “I give our guys credit that they kind of had the mentality of, ‘We’re going to have to grind this game out.’ It’s easy to get frustrated when you’re not getting shots, and getting good shots, and you’re going to have to do something defensively. I thought we defended very well. Activity-wise on the defensive end, we really helped each other.”
The Bulls have been helping each other for 11 games, to be exact — since guard Zach LaVine was sidelined with inflammation in his right foot. The eye test confirms it, and so do the numbers. In the first 19 games of the season, the Bulls ranked 22nd in defensive rating (116), which included sitting at 29th in defensive rebounding with an average of 30 per game. In the 11 games without LaVine, the defensive rating is 112.9 (sixth in the league), and the defensive rebounding is up to 33.1 per game (11th).
For the first time this season, the Bulls look like a high-effort team on defense.
“We’re definitely trying to grow it,” guard Coby White said. “I feel like we started the year well, and then it was going downhill for a while there. We just ultimately want to get back to where we were last year — how we were playing on that end of the floor, having each other’s backs, scrambling, covering for each other.
“Coming off a back-to-back, we knew we were going to have to have each other’s back just because we wouldn’t have the legs we had [against the Lakers].”
They passed a real test. But the bigger one is yet to come.
There’s a good chance that LaVine, the two-time All-Star, will be back in a few weeks. As the Bulls’ front office continues doing everything it can to trade him before the Feb. 8 deadline, the best thing he can do to improve his value is come back and get in line with his teammates’ style of play on both ends of the floor. An engaged LaVine on defense who also can score with ease will be much easier to move on the market than a LaVine with bad shot selection who treats defense as an afterthought.
If LaVine buys in on the current mentality, the Bulls’ season could go from nightmarish to promising, with players believing they can beat any opponent in multiple ways.
“Like [guard Alex Caruso] was saying all [Thursday] night, ‘You’re not going to shoot 50% from the three-point line every night — you’ve got to embrace the challenge, embrace what’s going on,’ ” White said. “A.C. kept telling us that, telling us that, because you’ve got to find different ways to win. You want that stuff you can always hang your hat on to help us get wins.”
