Quick study: Bulls have found winning formula in 3-0 start
Balance has been the defining factor for the Bulls early this season.
It held true Monday, as the Bulls put eight players in double figures to beat Atlanta 128-123 at the United Center and improve to a surprising 3-0 on the season.
Ayo Dosunmu led the Bulls with 21 points. Nikola Vucevic finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds and 9 assists; Josh Giddey had 18 points and 13 rebounds; Tre Jones tacked on a 14-7-9 line.
Matas Buzelis put the Bulls up for good with a 3-pointer that broke a 118-118 tie with 2:30 left.
“We're a pretty gritty team,” newcomer Isaac Okoro said. “We have a lot of underdog mentality. Each guy on this team, that's what we feel like, we were an underdog coming into this league. So we've got to keep on fighting.”
Even more important than balance has been a collective basketball brainpower. These Bulls are acting like they've figured out how to win, or at least got better at practicing winning habits.
At the start of this game, the Hawks were sharp. They threw the first punch, had the Bulls on their heels — any of those cliches fit.
The Hawks were healthy again after Kristaps Porzingis, Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher — three of the top four scorers — all missed the last game. They were moving fast on offense, spreading the Bulls out, using screens to create mismatches, then attacking the basket, basically beating the Bulls at their own game.
The Bulls had no answer for Porzingis early, then tried guarding him with smaller players. The 7-foot-2 sharpshooter, now with his fifth NBA team, finished with 27 points.
Yet the Bulls straightened things out on defense, dominated the middle quarters, then did everything right down the stretch after falling behind 112-106 with 5:45 left.
“We executed the right way, we got good shots, we defended really well,” Giddey said. “We really locked into our defensive principles midway through that fourth, clawed back, got ahead by one. Then I thought the unit that closed did a great job both sides of the ball executing and closed a tough team out.”
After a timeout, the Bulls went on a 7-0 run, which included a Jones steal and block, an assist and 3-pointer from Dosunmu, then Vucevic tipped in a Kevin Huerter 3-point miss. Bulls finished the game on a 22-11 run.
Here are a couple of small examples of the Bulls doing the little things right: As the clock wound down at the end of the first half, Dosunmu sprinted across the court to get an extra hand in Jalen Johnson's face, knowing it was too late for a pass and he'd be the one taking the final shot. Johnson's 3-pointer was off-target.
In the third quarter, Huerter got caught in a mismatch against Atlanta big man Onyeka Okongwu and hacked rather than give up an easy bucket, even though it was Huerter's fourth foul. Okongwu missed both free throws. Right or wrong, it was a very unselfish play.
It was clear what the Bulls' first order of business was in this game — to get Okoro his first bucket. The new addition from Cleveland is in the starting lineup, but had posted two goose eggs to open the season. So the Bulls cleared out on their first possession, Okoro drove the lane and his driving bank shot rimmed out.
A few trips later, Okoro did finally get his basket. The Bulls did not stop the game to acknowledge the feat. Okoro started the second half with his first Bulls 3-pointer, and finished with 10 points.
“I'm a confident player,” Okoro said. “I didn't want to start the first two games how I started, but I knew the shots I was getting were makeable shots.”