LaVine leads Bulls over Suns
Rookie centers took center stage at the United Center on Wednesday.
No. 1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton was in town for his first NBA matchup against Bulls rookie Wendell Carter Jr., the No. 7 overall pick in June's draft, but the fifth big man taken.
Both players got off to fast starts, in a way, but faded into the background as the game progressed. The Bulls won 124-116, snapping a four-game losing streak, as Zach LaVine scored 29 and Jabari Parker nearly collected his first career triple-double.
The Bulls built a 10-point lead with 7:27 left and almost gave it up a couple times, but LaVine came alive to score 6 points in a row after Phoenix cut it to 3. LaVine missed the previous game last Saturday with an illness. Parker finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists.
Ayton narrowly won the individual battle, finishing with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Carter scored the first two baskets of the game, but was frustrated by foul trouble. Carter had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 fouls, but did finish a layup off an inbound pass with 37.3 seconds left to put the Bulls up by 5.
"It's someone I played against a lot throughout my high school AAU games," Carter said at Wednesday's shootaround. "This is a rematch with him on the highest level possible. I'm very excited."
Actually, Carter and Ayton played twice in AAU and did not meet last year in college. Carter admitted Ayton's team won the more meaningful matchup. It was in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Peach Jam where Ayton's California Supreme squad took care of Carter and Team CP3 74-57.
The winning team at Peach Jam that year was Mokan Elite, featuring two other 2018 NBA draft picks, Michael Porter Jr. and Trae Young.
"They got us. I feel like I played a real solid game, though," Carter said of his Peach Jam battle with Ayton. "If you had to say which one was more important, he definitely won the more important one."
Ayton, who grew up in the Bahamas, wasted no time displaying his skills Wednesday. Listed at 7-foot-1 and 250 pounds, Ayton is remarkably quick and able to shoot on the move. His quick turnaround jumper is just about impossible to contest.
Defense is thought to be Ayton's weakness right now. Philadelphia's Joel Embiid poured in 33 points against the Suns on Monday.
There will be plenty of matchups between the five big men chosen early in the 2018 draft. Besides Ayton and Carter, there's Sacramento's Marvin Bagley III, Carter's teammate at Duke last year; Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr. and Orlando's Mo Bamba.
"We're all very competitive," Carter said. "Each one of us want to be able to say we're the best big out of the top five that was picked. It's always competitive, but at the end of the day we're all good friends. We all root on one another. But when we step in between those lines when we're going against one another, we're not friends at that moment."
On Tuesday, Carter posted Instagram video of himself watching Duke at the Maui Invitational, but no taunts or predictions directed at Ayton.
"I'm not much of a trash talker," Carter said. "I might talk a little bit of trash during the game, but I don't like to hype myself up and then something bad happens out there."
The Bulls' other rookie, forward Chandler Hutchison, sat out due to back spasms.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls