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Five takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ 131-117 win against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at the United Center. It was the Bulls’ fifth straight win, their longest streak in four years.
1. The Bulls didn’t have a difficult opponent, facing a depleted Hawks team with 10 players in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Nevertheless, the lopsided win was a team effort, with seven Bulls players scoring in double figures, including all five starters. A 14-point night by forward Javonte Green helped put the relatively unheralded starter in the spotlight for once.
“I just feel like I play hard,” Green said afterward. “I feel like that’s contagious.”
The Bulls started with Green defending Hawks star Trae Young before Ayo Dosunmu came in and picked up the slack. Young finished with 26 points on 10-for-23 shooting.
Green said he simply wants to “do everything” that can help take the load off the “Big Three” of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević.
“Guard the best player, do all the little things, bring them all energy,” he said. “Because you know, they’re going to score regardless. I just want to take more pressure off them.”
Acting coach Chris Fleming said the Bulls’ game plan was to run early and make the game “easier” on the regulars. They scored 74 points in the first half, and LaVine had to play only 32 minutes overall.
“They’ve been playing at an incredibly high level shooting the basketball, but how do we make things easier on them?” Fleming said. “To their credit they got out and really tried to run today. That helped us get off. We had a really good offensive game doing that.”
The Bulls are off to a great start at 22-10 and making believers around the NBA.
“We just all have fun playing basketball,” Coby White said. “And that’s the key.”
2. Coby White had his best game of the season, finishing with 17 points and 12 assists.
“He did a good job sharing the ball,” Fleming said of White. “He was on the floor in that second quarter when we got some separation. He did a really good job in that phase.”
White said he doesn’t care if people label him as a player who just comes in off the bench for some instant offense. He knows he can be an NBA starter and play tight defense as well.
“A lot of people talk about who (they) think I should be,” White said. “I know who I am as a player. I’m going to stick to that, and being who I am I know I can bring a lot more on the basketball court than putting the ball in the basket.
“So I’m going to continue to be me. I still have the support of my teammates and the coaching staff. They just want me to be who I am.”
The Bulls had a season-high 38 assists, even without Ball, their best playmaker.
“We’re a very unselfish group,” White said. “We took what the defense gave us, and a lot of times it was just driving and kicking.”
White said his return from left shoulder surgery and a stint this month in the health and safety protocols has made the season a series of constant adjustments to get into a consistent groove.
“It’s just challenges,” he said. “Obviously it’s hard to find a rhythm, but that comes with it. It is what it is.”
3. Javonte Green’s dunks have become one of the most entertaining part of Bulls practices and pregame shootarounds, White said, and it carries over into games.
Chicago Bulls forward Javonte Green (24) dunks in the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at United Center Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“Practice how you play?” Green rhetorically asked.
Green and Derrick Jones Jr., a former winner of the Slam Dunk contest, have dunk-offs in practices, which would be fun to watch if the team decided to tweet one.
White said Green “dunks everything” in practice, and one of White’s favorite dunks is when Green sinks a free throw, runs under the basket, grabs the ball off the bounce and performs a reverse dunk or a between-the-legs windmill slam.
“He just does it because he can,” White said with a laugh. “And I hate it … because he can.”
Green shrugged off the dunk as no big deal.
“Picked it up overseas, just something to do,” he said. “Just stuck with it pregame. I don’t know why I do it. Just fun.”
4. If it looks as if Zach LaVine is having the time of his life, that’s because he is.
The Bulls star is having his best season following his first All-Star appearance last year. He scored 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting Wednesday, hitting five of his seven 3-point attempts.
He also had a 360-dunk during garbage time in the fourth quarter that got the crowd rocking at the United Center.
Asked whether LaVine’s talent is still unappreciated despite his consistency over the last few years, Fleming said that’s no longer the case.
“People realize how good he is,” he said. “That secret is out. He’s been an All-Star. He’s an Olympic champion. He’s been playing at an extremely high level for a team that’s in second place in the East. People know he’s pretty good.”
We’ll see when the All-Star voting takes place whether the rest of the nation if paying attention to what LaVine is doing. LaVine and DeRozan deserve to be in the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference, alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Young.
5. Chris Fleming said he expects to continue subbing for coach Billy Donovan until next week.
Donovan is in the health and safety protocols, though he continues to communicate with Fleming before and after games.
“Hopefully the tests come back differently,” Fleming said. “But it feels like it’s probably that (target date).”
The Bulls have two road games this weekend against the Indiana Pacers on Friday and Washington Wizards Saturday, so that means Donovan figures to return when the Bulls return home Monday to take on the Orlando Magic.
After that, the Bulls receive a three-day break until a Jan. 7 home game against the Wizards.
