MIAMI — Coby White and Nikola Vucevic, who strolled into the locker room on the late bus, got the night off because of the buildup of minutes lately.
Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, Jalen Smith and Zach Collins were in street clothes, battling injuries.
It had all the makings for a Matas Buzelis night.
After all, he was the highest-scoring player available for the rematch with the Heat and had a nice week going with 20 points against the Pacers on Wednesday and 16 against Miami on Thursday.
That’s the thing about expectations for young players, however. Some nights they blow way past them, and other nights they hit their heads on the way up.
In the Bulls’ 125-118 victory Saturday, Buzelis did both. He was shaky with his shooting and decision-making in the first half but still had the confidence to make a game-deciding three-pointer with 39.1 seconds left. He had 21 points, eight rebounds and eight turnovers.
It’s a reminder that he might be the closest thing on the Bulls’ roster to a high-ceiling guy, but he’s not there yet. The message from coach Billy Donovan remained the same on Buzelis: Give him time.
“This is just how I view it: There are really a lot of talented guys in this league,” Donovan said. “You can go around the league to any team, and there’s talent. The other part to me is what goes on from the shoulders up? That’s the thing for me that separates certain guys. I think he’s got the ability in that area. One, he’s not afraid of moments. I do think that he’s a guy to quickly move on from mistakes. He’s got a really good work ethic; he’s really competitive.
“I trust that he has the potential to become that player, but it is going to be a process of: How well does he make players around him better? How well does he lean into physically being stronger and being able to defend a lot of different positions, being able to rebound? He’s shown signs of doing that stuff.”
But it was Ayo Dosunmu who single-handedly kept the Bulls afloat late.
He made a three-pointer with just under three minutes left, a layup on the next possession, another three with 2:09 left and yet another layup. Dosunmu scored 10 of his 29 points in crunch time.
The problem was the Heat answered basket for basket until Buzelis put a final stamp on the game.
Dosunmu came up with a huge steal with 1:13 left and found a streaking Buzelis for a breakaway dunk. And after the Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed a layup, Buzelis confidently stepped into a 25-footer to increase the lead to five.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Bulls (24-25) and, more important, gave them a chance to regroup and get ready for a third game against Miami in four nights.
All eyes will be on Buzelis to see how he follows this one up.
“I do like that [Buzelis has] been in some crucial moments, and he doesn’t back away from those,” Donovan said. “He has that kind of makeup that he [can be a star]. Now whether he gets there or not, we’ll wait and see.
‘‘But he’s got some good things that he’s working with from the shoulders up. He just needs to mature physically and mentally.”
Minutes after the game, sources confirmed that the Bulls acquired Dario Saric and two second-round picks in a three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Kings. To make room for Saric, Emanuel Miller was traded, and Jevon Carter was waived.