The Bulls had one of their more disappointing weeks of the season. They had a great chance to make a statement to start the second half, as they got to play three playoff-bound teams (Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, and Toronto Raptors). Instead, they disappointed in the first two games and rebounded to win against an undermanned Raptors team on Sunday.
Thursday was the worst game this week. The Bulls took on the 76ers without their two best players, PF/C Joel Embiid and PG Ben Simmons, and still got walloped, 127-105. This was the first game back for F Lauri Markannen, who played well (23PTS 7-7 3PT), but the team overall had their worst game. This does happen to teams coming off the All-Star break at times, but this should have been a win for the Bulls. Instead, it was the worst loss of the season.
Friday didn’t get any easier. The Heat are playing the best of any team in the NBA. They were 8-1 in their last nine coming into their meeting with the Bulls. Even though the Bulls lost this game, I was extremely happy with how they played compared to Thursday night. The Bulls almost took down the NBA’s hottest team but fell 101-90 after another terrible fourth quarter. This was an issue I have been screaming about for the past two weeks. The Bulls will not become a winning team until they figure out how to win these close games in the final quarter.
Sunday was much better but the Raptors were missing five of their rotational players due to the Covid protocols. The Bulls cruised to an easy 118-95 victory on Sunday night. They had nine players score in double figures for the first time since 1971. I’m glad to see the team play a full game and overall have one of the best games of the year, but this is what you should do to a team that is missing that many players as the Raptors were. I do like the starting lineup the Bulls ran out in this game (PG Thomas Satoransky, SG Zach Lavine, SF Patrick Williams, PF Thaddeus Young, and C Lauri Markannen), and I hope they run this lineup for this upcoming week.
I think having PG/SG Coby White and PF/C Wendell Carter Jr. coming off the bench will only make the Bulls even tougher to defend because that bench would be one of the strongest bench units in the entire league. It was a rough week for sure, but if this new lineup proves to be prosperous, then the Bulls might finally understand what they need to do to win games, which most of the time means some players will have to sacrifice something in return.