CHICAGO (670 The Score) – It was quite an eventful Thursday for Bulls second-year forward Patrick Williams.
It started with him arriving late to morning shootaround at the Advocate Center. Williams missed part of a film session and drew a fine for the infraction.
“Nothing, just being 20,” Williams said of his reason for being late.
It ended with Williams logging the biggest workload of his young career and playing a central role in overtime as the Bulls rallied from an earlier 16-point deficit for a 135-130 win against the Clippers at the United Center. In a career-high 36:49 of playing time, Williams had 10 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.
In overtime, Williams had a dunk off a baseline cut and then drilled a game-sealing 3-pointer to put the Bulls up 129-125 with 58 seconds left.
“It was big,” said Bulls star DeMar DeRozan, who went off for 50 points. “Especially having Pat out there, late in the game, crunch time, it was big. We needed a moment like that, all of us. It’s one of those fun games. You go out there and compete. It’s the best time of the year – when everything matters. Guys stepped up. I’m definitely happy for Pat. He made some big plays late in the game. Without that, I don’t think we win.”
Williams’ performance was his best of the season and came in his seventh game since he returned from a serious wrist injury that required surgery in late October. It also helped quell some of the external hysteria around his recent play, as Williams has been tentative initially upon getting back to game action. In 13 ineffective minutes in the Bulls’ loss to the Knicks on Monday, Williams didn’t attempt a shot and had just two rebounds.
On Thursday, Williams still wasn’t aggressive offensively – he only had four field-goals attempts, making them all – but coach Billy Donovan thought he played forcefully.
“You felt him a little bit tonight, which was great,” Donovan said. “I thought he could’ve been a little bit more aggressive in the first half. I thought he had a couple opportunities where there were some offensive rebounds kicked out to him that he just dumped it in the post and cut, where he should’ve put the ball on the floor. He needed to be a little more aggressive, but he made a big three out of the corner. He had a great driving finish and dunk. He was active around the basket, and that’s what we need him to do. He has to do that. I think for Patrick, a lot of the things that we’re asking of him are things that he can really control. I understand his timing is going to take some time to come back as it relates to handling and passing and shooting. Those things take time, but he can get his energy, his athleticism and his physicality into the game. It was good to see him be able to do that tonight.”
Williams noted the coaching staff and his teammates had been on him recently to do more. That included when Donovan tabbed him to start the second half Thursday, a move he made to help the Bulls match up against Clippers forward Marcus Morris. Williams has been coming off the bench.
“The guys just challenged me,” Williams said. “DeMar challenged me. Tristan (Thompson) challenged me, (Alex Caruso), from the top all the way down. Coach Billy challenged me at halftime just to be more aggressive when I get the ball because they were trapping DeMar and trapping Zach (LaVine). So when I get the ball out of there, just being aggressive, putting the ball on the floor, getting downhill and then making the right play from there. They showed trust in me, so I just had to kind of trust myself in those situations.”
Williams feels like he’s getting more of his rhythm back after his five-month absence.
“It felt good, it felt good just being out there in the fight with the guys,” said Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. “Obviously, those types of games, everybody wants to be in. Everybody wants to be able to make an impact in those types of games. Those are the games we work. Those are games where all your hard work pays off.
“The down-to-the-wire, gritty games, those are the ones that mean the most.”
And of course, Williams also vowed he won’t be late to any team functions again.
“I just felt like I had let the guys down,” Williams said. “I had missed some of the film session, so I felt like I let the guys down. So tonight, I just wanted to come out here and just give my all, let the guys know that I was still locked in. This late in the season, we can’t afford to have guys late to shootaround and things like that. I definitely apologized to those guys, and I just said I was going to give it all I’ve got tonight.”
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.