CHICAGO (670 The Score) – By the time Bulls guard Coby White produced the highlight of the evening and arguably the dunk of his career, he felt like it was about time. Spurs star big man Victor Wembanyama had tormented him all night at the rim.
“He had eight blocks tonight, and I think three of them were on me,” White said.
That didn’t stop White from attacking with the game on the line Monday evening at the United Center. With the Bulls clinging to a 111-110 lead inside the final minute after trailing for the entirety of the first 47 minutes, White attacked the basket from the left wing and threw dunk a thunderous dunk over the late-arriving Wembanyama, the uber-talented 21-year-old and vaunted rim protector who’s listed at 7-foot-3 but who had Bulls players speculating in the postgame locker room that he was probably two inches taller.
White credited injured Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu for helping him stay in an attacking mindset despite earlier unfruitful efforts into the lane. At halftime, Dosunmu reinforced to White and others to keep “pushing us to get to the rim and try him,” White said.
White’s dunk helped seal the Bulls’ 114-110 win as Wembanyama’s game-tying 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession rattled in and out.
“I just told myself the next time I was going to go, I was going to try to dunk,” White said. “I was going to try to dunk it before he could get to the rim. And then I knew while I was driving that if I was to like lay it in, finger-roll it or anything, he was going to block it. So I was just like, ‘I’ve got to dunk it.’”
The Spurs led by as many as 19 early in the third quarter before the Bulls rallied, mainly on the strength of their 32-15 advantage in the fourth quarter. That included Chicago ending the game on an 11-0 run, in which it took its first lead with 47 seconds left on a scoop layup by White, who had 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
“A helluva way to close the game out,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine said of White. “A really good play by Billy (Donovan). They got a mismatch with me and Chris (Paul). They didn’t jump it, but they did a good job of containing the dribble. I threw it out to Coby. He pump-faked somebody out of his shoes. Everybody was on the weak side, and he attacked the rim the way you’re supposed to. We had a running joke – somebody has to try him. I was trying to, but it didn’t work out. So I’m happy and I’m a little envious. Because Coby has two dunks on the year, and one of them was on Wemby.”
While White provided the play of the game, it was LaVine who gave the Bulls the chance to win. He had 35 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, and 14 of his points came in the fourth quarter in an incredible display of shotmaking. He shot 13-of-25 for the game.
The Bulls improved to 17-19 with the win and sit in 10th place in the East. They’ll visit the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
“We understood that we could come back and play the right way,” LaVine said. “They were making some shots, and we didn’t really hit any in the first half either. Just stick with it and get it to a close game where we can do what we do.”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.