Chicago Bulls' Blakeney finds instant offense formula
If instant offense is the goal, Chicago Bulls guard Antonio Blakeney has found the formula.
Over the past three games, heading into Saturday's date against Houston, Blakeney had scored 58 points in 61 minutes. He hit 11 of 15 shots from 3-point range and shot 62 percent from the field overall.
"I'm a confident player. Even if I'm missing or making," Blakeney said after scoring a career-high 22 points against Indiana on Friday. "I'm just shooting with confidence right now. I've been working hard, been working hard all summer, all year."
The Bulls got a glimpse of what Blakeney could do last year when he averaged 30 points in the G-League and was named rookie of the year. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard went undrafted after playing two years at LSU.
"Zach (LaVine) talks to me about this all the time," Blakeney said. "When he comes out and I come in, just let there be no let-off. We're kind of similar; we both can score the ball, we're both pretty athletic. So when he's out of the game and I get in there, I just try to bring that energy."
It seemed as if Blakeney's signature shot was the pullup jumper in the lane, but he has been blistering from 3-point range.
Does he have aspirations of making 14 in a game, like Golden State's Klay Thompson did against the Bulls on Monday?
"I don't know about that. I'm more of a playmaker, scorer type of guy," Blakeney said. "Right now I'm hitting a lot of 3s, but me saying I'm just going to be a 3-point shooting specialist, I wouldn't say that."
As of Saturday morning, Blakeney ranked second in the league in 3-point percentage at .593 (16-for-27), trailing San Antonio's Rudy Gay with .643 on fewer attempts.
Arcidiacono in good hands:
Another Bulls player doing well in the league stats is guard Ryan Arcidiacono, second in assist-to-turnover ratio to Minnesota's Tyus Jones. Both Arcidiacono (Villanova) and Jones (Duke) led a team to an NCAA title in college.
Arcidiacono had 44 assists and 6 turnovers heading into Saturday's action. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg pointed out that Arcidiacono is doing this in his second season and spent most of last year in the G-League.
"Yeah, he's been unbelievable," Hoiberg said. "I'm proud of him for the work that he put in for the off-season, carrying the confidence over that he's playing with right now."
Windy City starts 1-1:
The Windy City Bulls won their season opener at the Sears Centre on Friday, beating the Lakeland Magic 96-71. Guard Tyler Ulis led the way with 25 points and 7 assists.
The road wasn't as kind, though, as Windy City lost at Grand Rapids 125-108 on Saturday. Ulis scored 23 points and Mychal Mulder added 22.
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg talked Saturday about using Windy City to help get their injured players back in shape. Denzel Valentine (ankle) and Lauri Markkanen (elbow) still are at least a week or two from reaching that point in their recovery.