Tag: Chicago Bulls

CHICAGO – Zach LaVine knew the Bulls would have a hard time defending Damian Lillard. “You can only do so much with a player who’s averaged 40 (points) over the last six games,” LaVine said of the Portland Trail Blazers star. The task was made significantly more difficult after Bulls coach Billy Donovan announced before the game that guard Alex Caruso would be unavailable due to a sprained left foot. “There’s no question he’s hurting our defense when he’s not there,” Donovan said. “With Alex out, our backcourt will have…

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Before the team’s charter left Chicago, the Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 126-108 126-108 Thursday in Paris, center Nikola Vucevic began imagining the possibilities. Not even a dominant home win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors in their previous outing can negate what has been a bumpy season for the Bulls. But an almost week-long trip to France? Well, that would certainly break the monotony and perhaps serve as the catalyst that frees Chicago from inconsistency. “Winning matters everything,” Vucevic said after Sunday’s win over the Warriors. “The…

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CHICAGO – Remember when you could get the Bulls to a win over Oklahoma City? Remember when Billy Donovan left The Thunder for Chicago in part because he couldn’t be bothered coaching the rebuilding franchise? How did we get here? To this twisted, sad fact that felt like the “Twilight Zone” inside the United Center on a Friday night? The same Thunder franchise that apparently wasn’t good enough for Donovan three seasons ago, the same Thunder that came this season hoping more for lottery luck than gutsy wins, is suddenly…

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WASHINGTON – The Bulls’ second half of the season started out no different than the first. A winnable road game in Washington has turned into another loss that Chicago will look back on in a few months, wondering what it might have been. But there was no mistaking what happened Wednesday in the Bulls’ 100-97 defeat. Against a short-handed Wizards team without superstars Bradley Bell and Kristaps Porzingis, the Bulls allowed Washington to hang around and build up the right momentum and confidence to steal the game. The Wizards did…

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Anyone could pull the points from the box and cross out the Bulls’ 126-112 win in Philadelphia upon realizing that Sixers star center Joel Embiid didn’t play. Embiid is undefeated against the Bulls, so winning by 14 points instead of him would certainly have garnered a different kind of attention. But any dismissal of Chicago’s rare road victory against the 76ers — the Bulls’ first since 2017 — would ignore one of the team’s best performances this season. The Bulls staged a 31-point turnaround, taking an 18-point lead and never…

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Chicago – DeMar DeRozan timed his move perfectly. As soon as a pass came his way, he pounced. In the biggest moment of the night, when the Bulls were desperate for a play, the fourth quarter champ was ready again. But this time DeRozan did it on defense. With the Bulls trailing by 2 with 11.1 seconds left in regulation, DeRozan intercepted an inside pass that Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo was intended for Grayson Allen. DeRozan saved the ball from going out of bounds by flicking it to Ayo Dosunmu,…

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MIAMI – Zach LaVine used Patrick Williams’ screen and a spin motion to shake his leg before pulling three more Heat defenders. A sliver of daylight appeared before it converged near the right corner of the foul line, colloquially called the “elbow”. LaVine could have stopped and pressed a shot from mid-range. Instead, he diagnosed the defense and threw a deadweight to Nikola Vucevic at right cornerback for a breathing room 3 that put the Bulls ahead by 14 with 5:10 remaining in Tuesday’s 113-103 win in Miami. Three possessions…

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