While Bulls shot poorly, White delivered in playoff debut
On a night when neither team shot the ball well, Coby White was the exception. He scored 12 points and hit 5 of 10 shots from the field in his playoff debut Sunday.
"To me, I was really focused on the defensive end, just trying to bring the energy and trying to stick to the game plan and help my teammates anyway I could," White said Monday at the Advocate Center. "I got a couple shots to fall. It was just fun being out there in a playoff experience for the first time, so I was excited to be out there."
White hit a pair of shots that gave the Bulls a short-lived 69-64 lead late in the third quarter. Before the series, there was discussion about how the playing rotation would bring some tough decisions.
The Bulls used 10 players on Sunday. White saw the most time off the bench at 23 minutes. Backup center Tristan Thompson played just 2 minutes in the first half and coach Billy Donovan said there wasn't an injury involved, just a matter of trying to find the right combination.
"I wish a lot more guys got hot," Donovan said. "That would have been nice, but it didn't happen. I think in a playoff series, you have to keep all the guys ready. I don't think for us the rotations were really a problem or an issue. I think the guys that were on there did a pretty good job.
"You can make an argument for any player. I don't think we had a run or a lineup that put us behind the eight-ball. If anything, we didn't start well."
Caruso feels fine:
Alex Caruso hit the floor hard a few times on Sunday. Early in the game, he drew a foul when run over by Milwaukee's Jrue Holiday while setting a screen.
This provided some cause for concern after coach Billy Donovan said before the game he was planning to limit Caruso's minutes as he returns from time off with a back injury.
"I feel good," Caruso said. "It's just my conditioning. I didn't play almost two weeks. It doesn't matter what kind of shape you are, two weeks off from playing basketball and then you jump in the playoffs, it's going to be tough.
"I think I played somewhere around 33, 34 minutes. I felt good, body feels pretty good today. Got in the hot tub, got a little stretch. I'll be fine."
Bull horns:
The Bulls won a coin flip to break a draft order tie with Minnesota. The Bulls will choose No. 18 in the 2022 draft, while the Timberwolves will pick 19th. ...
No Bulls players received votes for defensive player of the year, which went to Boston guard Marcus Smart. Phoenix' Mikal Bridges was second in a fairly close vote, followed by Utah's Rudy Gobert, Miami's Bam Adebayo and Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr. Smart is the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.
• Twitter: @McGrawDHSports