CHICAGO (670 The Score) – The Bulls have vowed to charge full steam ahead in the final week-plus of the regular season in an effort to climb as high as they can in the Eastern Conference standings, and they made a small measure of progress on that front Friday.
Chicago earned a 118-113 win against visiting Portland at the United Center, where the Bulls took control with a strong third quarter and held off a late push by the Blazers, who pulled within two with 2:45 remaining. With the win, Chicago improved to 35-42 and climbed into a ninth-place tie with Miami in the East. The Bulls hold the tiebreaker over the Heat, who they’ll meet next Wednesday in a game that could go a long way toward deciding which team plays host in the play-in game between the ninth and 10th seeds.
Leading the way for the Bulls on Friday was the trio of center Nikola Vucevic (31 points, 12 rebounds), guard Coby White (31 points) and guard Josh Giddey, who posted his fourth triple-double in his past 10 games with 15 points, 19 rebounds and 12 assists.
Giddey had a rough first half, scoring just three points on 0-of-5 shooting to go with four rebounds and four assists. He responded with a big second half, scoring 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting with 15 rebounds and eight assists.
“The one thing about Josh is I feel like he’s really, really competitive,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “There’s so many games – guys are not always going to play great every single night. I think a lot of times, guys can get frustrated or down. He fights harder, and I really respected the way he came out in that second half because a lot of times, it’s not about how you respond when you’re playing well. It’s how do you respond when you’re not playing well? I give him credit.”
Giddey’s 19 rebounds were a career-high.
“It’s crazy,” Bulls rookie forward Matas Buzelis said of Giddey’s rebounding numbers. “It’s an underrated skill he has, I think. He’s a phenomenal rebounder.
“He pushes the ball once he grabs the rebound, so we’re all out. He’s going to find us in transition. So I think that’s a big advantage we have.”
Buzelis added 12 points and 12 rebounds to record his first double-double in the NBA.
“Feels good,” Buzelis said. “I should’ve had my first one a long time ago, but I’m starting to take rebounding way more seriously. And I could be really good at it. You know, it finally came, so I’m happy.”
The Bulls were helped by a brutal shooting night from the Blazers, who fired up 115 shots, 28 more than Chicago. Portland shot just 38.3% overall, including 11-of-42 (26.2%) on 3-pointers. The Blazers also benched forward Deni Avdija (game-high 37 points) for the final three minutes in an apparent tanking move.
The Bulls (35-42) and Blazers (34-44) entered the evening separated by a half-game in the standings, so Portland’s loss may help ensure it remains ahead of Chicago in the draft order. While the Blazers eyed that move downward in the standings, the Bulls keep looking upward, however uninspiring their status as a play-in team may be.
“We’re talking about it,” Donovan said. “I would say I’m not showing them the standings every single day. A lot of it is going to come down to, as you get all this jockeying and all this other stuff, you can look at a lot of different stuff – I just want our guys to understand where we’re at. And really, all any team can do at this point in time is control what they can control. Who knows what’s going to happen around the league.
“We just need to focus on playing good basketball.”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.