CHICAGO (670 The Score) – In a season full of disappointment, the Bulls submitted their most surprising performance Thursday evening.
With their two leading scorers in forward DeMar DeRozan (ankle sprain) and guard Zach LaVine (foot soreness) sidelined by injury, the heavy underdog Bulls snapped a five-game losing streak with a 120-113 win against the Bucks in overtime at the United Center. Two nights after their effort left much to be desired in a blowout loss to the Celtics, the Bulls played inspired ball, making up for their poor shooting in the first half and 21 overall turnovers by playing with more pace, flying around on defense all night and getting a 29-point, 10-rebound six-assist game from center Nikola Vucevic and 23 points from guard Coby White.
“I’m just very proud of all my teammates for just battling, being shorthanded, two of our best players are out,” Vucevic said. “A lot of guys stepped up big time that don’t play a lot of minutes. They had to take bigger roles and just overall did a great job.”
The Bulls’ victory nearly happened in less dramatic fashion, then nearly didn’t happen at all. White hit a step-back 3-pointer with the shot clock running down to give the Bulls a 103-96 lead with 1:26 remaining in regulation, but the Bucks responded with a 10-0 run that was aided by a pair of key 3-pointers.
Trailing 106-103 out of a timeout in the waning seconds of regulation, Bulls guard Alex Caruso drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing at the buzzer over the outstretched hand of Bucks center Brook Lopez, one of the premier defenders in the league.
“I don’t think it’s that difficult, because I shoot that a lot in the summer playing open gym and then playing in August, September when we come back with the guys,” Caruso said of his tying shot. “I just don’t get the opportunity to shoot a lot, because usually I’m the guy taking the ball out or something. I was excited I got to shoot it tonight. And just, I had a lot of turnovers, so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t lose the game because I turned it over a lot.”
In overtime, a Vucevic dunk gave Chicago a 111-110 lead it wouldn’t relinquish and guard Ayo Dosunmu followed with a bucket in transition on a goaltending call. The Bulls’ defense did the rest, holding the Bucks to 3-of-11 shooting and forcing four turnovers in the extra session.
The Bulls held the Bucks to a 97.6 offensive rating for the game. The NBA average is around 114.2.
“I give our guys credit,” coach Billy Donovan said. “We kept hanging in the game and just kept playing the next possession. There was some resiliency.”
While it’s perhaps an easy narrative to tie the Bulls’ more spirited performance to the absence of their stars, who are primary reasons the team plays at such a slow pace and often struggles on defense, Vucevic sternly refuted that notion.
"Nah, that has nothing to do with it,” Vucevic said. “That has nothing to do with it. We just came together. We knew we had to show better spirit, we came back home with our fans behind us. We just wanted to play well. It's one game. Those are our two best players. We need them. If we want to achieve anything big, we need them. So that has nothing to do with it."
Donovan also pushed back at the idea that LaVine and DeRozan being out was why his team played with more force and pace. The Bulls had an estimated 114 to 115 possessions in the 53-minute game, a solid uptick over their NBA-low 95.5-possession average per 48 minutes entering the evening. The Bulls also posted a season-high 32 assists as they improved to 6-14.
“We’d obviously lost several games in a row,” Donovan said. “It’s a competitive group. They, I think, went out there really wanting to compete and battle. I think they knew what kind of team they were playing against tonight, and I think the things that we did – it wasn’t like we changed our offense and did anything necessarily different. We were basically doing the same things.
“Any time you lose two great players like Zach and DeMar, it’s going to hurt any team. I give our guys credit for rising up in their absence and finding a way, collectively, to win the game.”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.