Well well well, it appears when the Bulls are not massively out-talented going into a game they can make it fun and competitive. It remains to be seen what amount of opponents meet this criterion this season, but against the Milwaukee Bucks the Bulls had a mostly-good-if-looking-with-a-rebuild-focus game and came out with the victory.
And before getting into the more important elements within the game, the end result is worth discussing to me in that I had a revelatory moment in…not caring. Not even so much thinking about tanking, or the relegation zone, but no longer dueling against phantom thoughts of Arturas Karnisovas thinking his team is close to contention because fluky things like, for example in this game, the Bucks missing 12 free throws (including 5 in the 4th quarter).
AK’s successor, Bryson Graham, has said and acted like he knows his team currently stinks and has a long way to go.
And this game showed that Tiago Splitter seemingly agrees. In his first win as Bulls coach, Splitter acted unbeholden to any player on the roster, instead playing whomever was giving Wilson1 and the team the best chance at succeeding.
The first quarter in this game was making it clear that the starting lineup, especially Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, were not going to give the Bulls a good chance at winning, and the team was in danger of going 0-2 in even-competitive matchups. Even though facing an opponent that allowed them to not only stay even on possessions but have an advantage, the Bulls were dismal offensively with just 17 points going 6/14 from two and 1/14 from three2.
I have given Splitter some guff in these first two games for having all-bench lineups out there, figuring there was no chance at good offense without at least one of Giddey, Buzelis, or Norm Powell on the court. But in this game’s second quarter the likes of Noa Essengue and Leonard Miller, with Tre Jones at point guard, there was no need for half-court offense, as they were able to defensively-disrupt and run their way to a 16-0 stretch to take the lead.
At halftime, it was merely a 1 point deficit, but the team was -13 with Giddey on the court, as he plus Matas plus Caleb combined for 8 points in the half.
In the 2nd half it wasn’t some immediate return to disaster from the starting unit, but there was a noticeable difference in how the team played with Essengue, Miller, Jones (relentless dribble penetration)…with Caleb Wilson coming alive. Wilson had 12 points in the 3rd quarter alone.
If you’re focused on the rebuild, it was already a successful game3. But as an individual contest it was still very much a toss-up throughout the 4th quarter.
And then in the final ~4 minutes, it was Giddey on the bench. And Matas Buzelis didn’t play the entire 4th quarter.
And the Bulls won not in spite of this, but because of it. Kind of like the 2nd quarter, the Bulls still looked mostly hopeless in half-court sets but were able to capitalize on 9 Bucks turnovers.
Wilson went 5-6 from the line in the 4th quarter.
I can only conclude, therefore: he’s clutch! Kidding of course, but it is of utmost importance that he plays in meaningful minutes. And the bench allowed that opportunity in this game at least: Miller with 19 points, Jones 8 assists (Bulls +24 in his minutes), Hield had 13, Essengue with that 1 block and 3 steals guarding the center spot, Okoro with 12 points and his usual solid defense. They won the Bulls the possession battle and therefore the game.
So the Bulls are 1-1 in season record, as well as ‘number of games that were interesting versus rendered useless’. They face an opponent Saturday that’s in between the chasm between Milwaukee and Toronto in the still-healthy-for-now Washington Wizards.
1
ok, so maybe one player gets special treatment…and should
2
I’ll eventually stop reminding, but I really don’t think I’m going to focus too much on team defense, especially from the starters. It was bad, it will likely be bad all year.
3
Note that this is true, regardless of another rotation decision where Isaac Okoro played nearly 28 minutes and Dailyn Swain received a DNP. Not all young players matter the same amount.