Bulls roll to easy victory over Orlando
The Chicago Bulls' quest to recreate their winning formula took an interesting twist early in Monday night's game against Orlando.
They were absolutely torched on defense from the opening tip, as the Magic hit 10 of its first 12 shots from the field. Coach Fred Hoiberg's first substitution was sending in guard Isaiah Canaan for Rajon Rondo.
Whether Rondo was the weak link defensively is open to debate, but once the switch was made the Bulls finished the quarter with a 21-4 run.
The rest of the game featured more of the same as the Bulls rolled to an easy 112-80 victory at the United Center, snapping a three-game losing streak.
“The message was to pick it up, start guarding,” Hoiberg said of his early substitution. “Make it uncomfortable. They were zipping that thing around wherever they wanted to. Then when we got some of the subs in, we picked up; we were getting up into them. We denied some passes that threw off the timing. That's what it was about.”
The Bulls (4-3) continued to get stronger on defense as the game progressed. In the second half, Orlando scored just 28 points and shot 23.3 percent.
“My thing is just to come in and give energy,” Canaan said. “I start on the defensive end, because it gets me going on the offensive end. I knew I could pick the ball up and just try to speed up the other team. My teammates just followed the defensive intensity that I brought.”
When Orlando closed within 5 points early in the third quarter, the Bulls answered with a 13-0 run, this time without any substitutions. By the end of the third quarter, they led 88-63.
The Bulls continued two positive trends — outrebounding their opponent in every game this season and attempting more free throws in six of seven contests. The margin in free-throw attempts Monday was a resounding 31-6, while the Bulls led 56-39 in rebounds.
Assists seem to be the telltale stat on offense. The Bulls finished with 26 against the Magic, with just 9 turnovers.
“Today in shootaround, I thought we got better, just understanding the things we needed to do,” Dwyane Wade said.“It takes awhile to get consistent. Some teams figure it out, some don't.”
Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 20 points, while Wade scored 16 and Taj Gibson finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Butler also had 7 assists and 4 steals.
“I think everybody just said, ‘Look, we don't want to keep this (losing) streak going. Start getting some stops,' ” Butler said. “We were scoring the ball just fine; let's get some stops. We did that.”
This result was reminiscent of some earlier victories. The Bulls opened leads of 29 points or more against Indiana and Brooklyn during their 3-0 start. The road gets tougher right away, with back-to-back games in Atlanta and Miami on Wednesday and Thursday.
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