LaVine gives himself a second chance, lifts Bulls past Hornets
Sometimes it helps to create your own second chances.
Zach LaVine had a shot to put the Chicago Bulls ahead in Wednesday night's waning seconds against Charlotte, but he settled for a 21-foot jumper over Kemba Walker that bounced off the rim with about six seconds left.
LaVine created his own chance for redemption. On the ensuing inbounds play, LaVine reached in front of Walker and helped deflect the pass off Walker's hand and out of bounds.
On his second try, LaVine tried something different, spinning out of traffic and taking it to the rim. He was hacked by Hornets guard Malik Monk and LaVine's free throws gave the Bulls their first victory of the season, 112-110 at the United Center.
LaVine finished with 32 points, his fourth straight 30-point game to start the season. Only Michael Jordan in 1986 has done that in Bulls history.
"Zach was terrific again all night," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "I love his attack, the way he's going after the rim and getting into the paint. He was great. Defensively, I thought he really battled Kemba."
Another significant performance came from point guard Cameron Payne. Starting for the injured Kris Dunn, Payne knocked down 6 straight 3-pointers, starting in the third quarter. During the streak, he made a trip to the locker room to get a right ankle sprain worked on. Payne finished with 21 points, hitting 7 of 11 shots from 3-point range.
There also was cause for worry as Bobby Portis left the game in the fourth quarter with a right-knee injury and will get an MRI exam Thursday morning. Portis declined to speak to reporters in the locker room and walked away gingerly.
The injury happened as Portis was trailing a fastbreak. Something happened with the leg and he hobbled past the press table in obvious pain, went all the way to the corner of the seats behind the visiting bench before collapsing on some stairs. After a couple of minutes, he hobbled back to the bench under his own power.
This game featured several more surprise performances for the Bulls.
Payne hadn't made a 3-pointer yet this season, before getting hot. His last 3-pointer was a big one, as Payne missed a driving shot, got his own rebound, dribbled the ball outside and buried a long one to tie the score at 105-105 with 3:34 left.
Backup center Cristiano Felicio made his season debut in the first quarter and scored 8 points in the first half. Rookie Chandler Hutchison contributed 8 points in the second quarter, and Ryan Arcidiacono scored a career-high 10 points.
"It was a huge night for Cam, huge confidence booster," Hoiberg said. "Cam works as hard as anybody on this team. He's one of the first in the gym and generally the last one to leave. He's out there with (assistant coach) Randy Brown working on his 3-point shot. So it's great to see that hard work pay off."
Heading into this game, Walker and LaVine ranked second and third, respectively, among NBA scoring leaders. Walker finished with 23 points to lead Charlotte (2-3). These teams meet again Friday in North Carolina.
The Bulls led 85-74 late in the third quarter, but the Hornets rallied to go ahead 89-88 less than two minutes into the fourth.
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