CHICAGO (670 The Score) – Bulls guard Alex Caruso has caused a lot of ruckus on the defensive end in his seven-year NBA career, but he may have produced his masterpiece Friday evening at the United Center.
In a wild ending to a game that featured 20-0 runs by both teams and perimeter shooting that could’ve set the sport back decades, the Bulls rallied for a 104-103 win against the Raptors in overtime primarily due to the sheer will and heroics of Caruso, who made three game-saving defensive plays late before drilling the game-winning 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left.
“He’s a guy that you just love on your team,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine said.
On a night in which he had 13 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block, Caruso was at his most disruptive in a chaotic final 20 seconds of regulation. The Bulls trailed 88-71 with 4:58 to go in the fourth quarter but clawed within 91-88 with 19.8 seconds left as the Raptors looked to inbound the ball at half-court. Toronto inbounded to 6-foot-9 forward Scottie Barnes, but he lost the ball with the 6-foot-4 Caruso harassing him on the catch. Caruso completed the steal by diving on the floor, then shuffled a pass to star forward DeMar DeRozan, who made a floater and was fouled with 12.7 seconds left.
But DeRozan missed the tying free throw, after which Caruso corralled the rebound and got it back to DeRozan, who then missed the go-ahead layup. Goaltending was initially called on the play before an official’s review wiped the goaltend off the board.
“The effort, the effort that he went out there and played with shows why he is who he is,” DeRozan said of Caruso.
“It’s amazing, it’s amazing the effort that he puts in, the sacrifice that he goes out there and plays with, throwing his body around. His IQ defensively, his instincts, it’s amazing to watch. It’s kind of like letting a cheetah out of the cage and just run wild when he’s out there. He makes it look pretty.”
After the Raptors hit two free throws to take a 93-90 lead, DeRozan was fouled on a game-tying 3-point attempt. He made the first two free throws but missed the third and was cited for a lane violation, putting the Bulls in yet another precarious spot as the Raptors held the ball with 3.5 seconds left and a one-point lead.
But on the inbound, Caruso was up to his old tricks, legally positioning himself in Raptors forward Pascal Siakam’s path and drawing the offensive foul when Siakam bowled him over trying to get open. It marked the second time in mere moments that Caruso had acted as a one-man wrecking ball to give the Bulls the ball back with a chance to tie it or win it.
On the ensuing play, DeRozan was fouled on a mid-range shot attempt with 0.7 seconds left. He then made the first but missed the second free throw, sending the game to overtime.
“It might just be an innate thing that I just have this ability to kind of see when stuff is going on,” Caruso said. “Usually when there’s chaos like that, stuff is predictable. You can kind of foreshadow what’s going to happen or what guys are trying to do. A lot of that is me anticipating and using that information that might be correct, might not. But at that in the game, you got to just try to make plays, and that’s kind of what I do – put myself in position to try and make them.”
In overtime, the Bulls rallied once again after trailing 103-99 with 39 seconds left. After DeRozan – who came up huge with 33 points – made a layup, Caruso stripped Siakam in the lane with 8.3 seconds left. The official box score credited Caruso with a block on the play, though it looked more like a steal.
LaVine scooped up the ball and raced the other direction, where Caruso spaced to the left corner and hit the winning 3-pointer after LaVine kicked it to him upon drawing two defenders at the rim.
Caruso’s teammates mobbed him after the final buzzer, with DeRozan bear-hugging him and picking him up for a brief moment.
“It was a good sense of relief,” Caruso said of what was racing through his mind. “One, the game is over. We’ve got to play again tomorrow. I was tired. Two, just excited. We have good team chemistry. With our players-only meeting the other day, it was just frustration of how we came out and played. Today, we showed spurts of how we want to play – being together, playing for each other, playing hard. That’s kind of how I embody myself as a basketball player, how we want to play. They know I play for the team, so whenever I make plays and have a good game, they show me love.”
The Bulls improved to 1-1 with the victory, and the Caruso-led heroics covered up a handful of concerns. LaVine (eight points on 3-of-14 shooting) produced his second straight dud to start the season and admitted after the game that he has a stiff back.
Starting power forward Patrick Williams didn’t play the final 25:29 of game action because he was so ineffective in producing three points on 1-of-5 shooting. And the Bulls were abysmal once again from deep, shooting 8-of-39 on 3-pointers. The Bulls are now shooting 24.7% on 3-pointers in their first two games.
Those all remains concerns, but they weren’t on anyone’s mind late Friday. The focus was on what Caruso had done.
“You’re thankful for people like that on your team,” LaVine said.
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.