Bulls try to muster repeat performance after beating Wizards
After their first victory of the season, the Bulls stayed in Washington and will play the second leg of a two-game series on Thursday.
But instead of facing a different starting pitcher, the Bulls will get another shot at Wizards stars Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal. That pair posted strong numbers in Tuesday's game, but the Bulls were in control most of the way and won 115-107.
During their day off in D.C., Bulls second-year guard Coby White was asked if it was a confidence builder to beat two longtime all-stars on the scoreboard.
"I don't think me and Zach (LaVine) particularly look at it like that," White said. "I think we look at it like taking it game by game and we just wanted to win. I think we just come out ready to compete and be aggressive."
The two-game series is a wrinkle added by the NBA this season to cut down on travel. The Bulls have a couple more double dips on the first-half schedule - home against the Knicks and at Orlando. They'll also spend three days in Los Angeles next month and play both the Lakers and Clippers.
The Wizards have already played a two-game series against the Magic and lost both games.
The lineups could change Thursday. Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen did not practice Wednesday due to a lower leg contusion. The injury originally occurred late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against Golden State. Markkanen was in uniform at Washington, but reaggravated the injury in another collision. He tried to keep playing, but checked out three minutes into the third quarter and didn't return. He's listed as questionable on the injury report, but a recurrence of an injury is never a good sign.
Washington, meanwhile, announced second-year forward Rui Hachimura will make his season debut Thursday against the Bulls. The Wizards lost their first four games without last year's lottery pick, who was dealing with an eye problem.
The Bulls' defense made some improvements Tuesday after giving up at least 124 points in their first three games. Coach Billy Donovan has talked about the challenge of putting together a solid defense without any great individual defenders.
"We've got to be a team that helps each other," Donovan said Wednesday. "I think a lot of times when you know you're playing against matchup or a guy that may be a little a bit quicker, may be a little bit faster, may shoot it from really deep, your instinctive reaction is to move closer to that man.
"And as everybody starts to move closer to their man, you start to open up a lot of gaps and seams and there's absolutely no rim protection. And I think early on in the year, we tried to really explain to the group that we've got to be a team-orientated group. We've got to help each other and we've got to rim protect."
Donovan mentioned he coached a guy in Oklahoma City, Andre Roberson. who didn't need any help on defense. Nobody on the current Bulls roster is approaching lockdown defender mode.
White said his strategy Tuesday was to prevent Westbrook from getting all the way to the rim. Westbrook collected his third-straight triple-double, but it wasn't enough.
"I think I've taken on the challenge (defensively)," White said. "Me being a starting point guard, there's going to be challenges every night in this league so you've got to stay ready. "
One issue with spending three days in one city is there's really nowhere for the players to go. They're expected to stay socially-distanced from the general public as much as possible.
"I don't really have an opinion on it," White said of the schedule. "I just want to hoop. As long as I'm playing basketball I'm cool, so it doesn't really matter."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls