Dosunmu stays hot, Bulls survive late Portland push
The Bulls followed a familiar pattern when Ayo Dosunmu erupted for a career-high 34 points on Saturday against Washington.
Dosunmu stepped up with his best game while Coby White was sidelined by a hip injury. Earlier this season, White went on a completely new career trajectory once Zach LaVine went out with a foot issue in late November. Even going back a couple years, center Nikola Vucevic always seemed to play better when LaVine or DeMar DeRozan were missing from the lineup.
Will the Bulls ever get everyone playing well at the same time? First, they'd need everyone healthy and it's tough to say what the roster will look like at the start of next season with LaVine, Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams slated to return from injuries.
With a short roster, the Bulls tried to handle Portland, another pending NBA lottery contestant, Monday at United Center. The Bulls led by 15 points early in the fourth quarter, then went ice cold while the Blazers started knocking down 3-pointers.
After falling behind by 3 late in the game, the Bulls hung on to win 110-107 as Anfernee Simons' potential tying 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer.
Before that final shot, DeRozan (28 points) tied the score with a 3-point play, Alex Caruso hit 1 of 2 free throws with 49.1 seconds left to put the Bulls up by 1, then DeRozan fed Vucevic for a post hook with 9.3 seconds on the clock to stretch the lead to 3.
“We had some plays that really changed the momentum in the game,” coach Billy Donovan said. “It was on both ends, it was a multitude of things, decisions we have to get better at and learn from. There's a lot of young guys in these situations for the first time that are learning how quickly momentum changes.”
Donovan said center Andre Drummond would need some dental work after he appeared to get struck in the mouth under the basket in the fourth quarter.
One storyline Monday was what would Dosunmu do for an encore? He finished with 23 points and 10 assists, notching consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his pro career.
The situation was a bit different that Saturday's matchup against Washington. The Wizards basically had no one patrolling the paint on defense and Dosunmu could attack the basket whenever he wanted. This was more of a post-up game, with Vucevic and Portland's DeAndre Ayton both having success near the basket.
Ayton, the former No. 1 overall draft pick by Phoenix, has been on a scoring spree lately and scored 25 in this game. There were a couple of times Dosunmu tried to finish at the rim against Ayton and didn't succeed.
Dosunmu did follow his typical game script, though. A third quarter sequence saw Dosunmu score on the break after an Caruso steal. A few seconds later, Caruso grabbed a long rebound and fed Dosunmu for a pullup jumper with his toes on the 3-point line. The former Illini star added a transition 3-point play a short time later to put the Bulls up 75-62 midway through the third.
White missed his third straight game with the right hip strain, but seems to be moving well and was running at the Advocate Center at Monday's shoot-around. Donovan's update before the game was unchanged. The hope is White can return later this week, either Thursday in Houston or Saturday at home against Boston.
“He’s doing things, but I think he can still feel some discomfort when he does sprint,” Donovan said. “So that’s the next hurdle to get over. I just don’t have a time period until he can clear that hurdle, but he’s progressed and gotten better.”
Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard showed up and sat courtside to watch his former Blazers team.
Portland coach Chauncey Billups spent Sunday night in Detroit celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Pistons' 2004 championship squad. That team included three future Bulls — Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Lindsey Hunter.
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