After reeling off five consecutive wins to open the season, the Bulls lost in New York on Sunday and appeared to be on the verge of a second straight loss on Tuesday vs. Philadelphia. However, as Jamal Collier of ESPN details, Chicago overcame a 24-point deficit to defeat the Sixers by a score of 113-111, completing the largest NBA comeback so far this season.
Josh Giddey, whose restricted free agency dragged on for nearly three months this offseason before he signed a new four-year, $100MM contract with the Bulls, was the driving force in the victory. He led the team in points (29), rebounds (15), and assists (12), making him the first Bull since Michael Jordan to register triple-doubles in back-to-back games.
Giddey admitted it was “cool” to accomplish a feat last achieved by Jordan, per Kyle Williams of The Chicago Sun-Times, but made it clear that the “individual stuff” was secondary to winning the game.
“Tonight was one of the best wins that I’ve ever been a part of,” he said, according to Collier. “Just in terms of how bad we were down that early in the third. And to gut that one out and dig ourselves out of the hole that we did was unbelievable.”
Veteran center Nikola Vucevic, who hit the game-winning shot to secure the victory for the Bulls, was impressed with the team’s resilience but stressed that he and his teammates can’t get into the habit of giving up 45 points in the first quarter.
“It’s important that we understand this is not how you can become a good team by getting down 20 and then waking up and start to finally play,” Vucevic said. “We have to play better from the beginning. This game was a great example of what we can be when we play the way we need to. So hopefully we can use this as a good learning experience for us and understand that we have to do this for 48 minutes.”
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Chicago is off to a 6-1 start without guard Coby White, who was the team’s leading scorer in the second half last season. According to Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required), head coach Billy Donovan said that White (left calf strain) is still “a couple weeks away” from playing in a game. “I watched him today — he is sprinting, running, cutting, jumping, trying to do everything completely full speed,” Donovan said on Tuesday. “He’s felt really, really good. … This has just taken a while. I think you can see around the league, there’s a lot of guys dealing with these calves right now. It’s just the way it is.”
- Seven of the 15 players on the Bulls’ standard roster are in contract years, but the team has bought in so far on Donovan’s call for a team-first approach, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “Right when training camp started, I addressed of all this, because we have seven or eight guys that are in the same situation, and I think it’s very easy if you’re not in the rotation or you’re not playing well to start to press, start to think about yourself,” Donovan said. “There’s a level of unselfishness [we needed] where you can start thinking about others — other than yourself, certainly — when your situation is uncertain going forward. … Like I told those guys, [free agency] will get here in July. Why worry or think about that when you have things in front of you now? We don’t have a team that can [isolate] or guys just go get theirs. We’ve got to rely on each other.”
- After spending three days in the G League with the Windy City Bulls, rookie forward Noa Essengue was recalled to the NBA on Wednesday, per the team. Chicago doesn’t play again until Friday, so Essengue may have the opportunity to practice with the NBA club this week. As Donovan told reporters when Essengue was initially assigned to the G League on Sunday, the team had planned since the draft to take a patient approach with him. “This is a guy at 18 years old who has a huge runway in front of him to get better and to improve, but we’re going to have to invest in his development,” Donovan said, per Cowley. “It may not be with us. It may be going back and forth between us and the G League. Those were things discussed back in June.”
I’m a big believer in the ” Best Player Available” Draft strategy in general, But to draft a guy who’s rookie contract will basically be over by the time he arrives just doesn’t make me want to jump up and down. This team, As good( Lucky) as they have been has needed something for many years now and continues to ignore it every year. Look Achiuwa isn’t Karl Malone but he rebounds and can run the floor which would seem to fit in with what the Bulls are trying to do so why do they keep ignoring it in the draft and FA? Not to mention cheap. So what IS the plan? When your PG leads the team in boards what does that say?
I’ve agreed over the last couple years that their resistance to get a PF is confounding. That being said, it seems like billy is finally acquiescing a tad, when Collins is back he’ll hopefully run a lil double bigs w him/vuc/smith like they did in preseason.
The starting group has somehow worked w no rim protection, and limited rebounding; Giddey has been big there. I like achiuwa but perhaps his defense and rebounding don’t offset his lack of offense.
Long term I still think getting a legit lob threat / rim protector , like a young Capela, would really transform this team. Gotta give Vuc his credit tho, his passing and movement are flourishing so much more with the ballhog bros detained to Sac.
Still don’t have the guy regardless. At least they’ve proven to have a solid infrastructure as far as almost everything else.
“When your PG leads the team in boards what does that say?” – It says that you have the best rebounding guard in the NBA. :)
Didn’t Westbrook lead OKC in rebounds when they had Steven Adams?
P Giddy isn’t Westbrook
Because Coby White is a sixth man at best getting all the touches
I predict this team will trade for Zion soon. They need a “superstar” and we don’t have the track record to sign free agents. It’s the easiest fix for AKME, think of the Vu deal from 2021. Probably will send Pelicans a pick with some salary and call it a day.
Unrelated note, Buzelis was left on an island last night in the final minute with Maxey and he got a piece of his step back J and the shot attempt fell short, setting up the pass from Giddey to Vu for the game winner. Nobody is going to mention that, but Buzelis playing great defense 1 on 1 versus their best player late in the game on the switch shows to me the kid isn’t afraid of making stops. Growth to me right there.
Good point about Matas.
I don’t see the Zion thing, I would be so pissed if that happens. His legs are cooked. Ja has me like 10% intrigued tho… I heard Coby and Collins matches money-wise. I’d still land on nah bc Ja is too risky with too much baggage, plus idk abt the fit with Giddey, but the buy-low potential combined with his ceiling at least made me think
Buzelis is freaking legit. He’s going to be a real handful with more seasoning.
We got incredibly lucky with him. lol
You should read this. Gives you understanding of what leveling up is like. Queen has an NBA body. Yet respects the level of talent and physical abilities, size of NBA. Trae at 164 lbs. absolutely has to approach the game differently. That is mostly on defense. Luka is twice his size. Size and talent at pro level. Makes a huge difference. You can get killed defending guys 40-80 lbs bigger. Luka is listed at 6’7” 230 lbs. Thats after losing weight supposedly.
link to hoopshype.com
Supposedly? I literally saw him on my television last night and he looks slimmer lol.
Absolutely loved what I seen from the team last niGht way to not Give up.
Pat Will is playinG better but honestly i need to see him off the roster just seeinG him out there makes me feel irritated.
BULLzelis is playinG so Great! Will lead the team in Dunks this year and possibly even Blocks.
If we can somehow pull off a Patwill for Zion I’d be pretty damn happy.
Why would you want to watch the pathetic loser Williamson sit on the Bulls bench in street clothes all year? Are you people insane? Go get drug tested.
Body can’t handle beinG a #1 every Game but I bet it holds up better as the #3
Mike, it we get Zion…potbelly’s will rejoice. Also, Gino’s East and Beggars Pizza 🤣
I dont see how they cant find 4-6 minutes a game for Noa, if you don’t think an 18 year old can help then don’t draft one that high. He was the 12th overall pick and played professionally in Europe. It’s not like this coaching staff is known for grooming young talent.
Yea you’re right. Coby hasn’t progressed. Matas is washed in year 2. Ayo was clearly a superstar from Day 1. Hell that’s why he was drafted so high. Duh 🤦♂️🤦♂️ Don’t blame the coaches for not getting enough out of two wasted picks (Pat & Daley). Billy didn’t draft em.
Oh and let’s not forget the terrible job they’ve done with Josh Giddey. It’s ok to admit that you were wrong on Billy. Maybe the FO just saddled him with street ball players instead of team players.
Bulls are doing this without Coby. Thats most impressive to me. Will they sustain this I don’t know. Vuc is playing, needs a New deal. Will Bulls trade him at TD or sooner. Still early to judge Bulls. You can say they should be better than last year. That’s a step in right direction.
Giddey after seven games ——-
23.1 pts, 9.1 ast,, 10 reb, .523% 2pt, 419% 3pt,
His shooting comes along … WAaatch out
Look I loved Caruso don’t get me wrong but that trade was a no brainer to me. I’m glad OKC won the Championship so it makes it worthwhile for them but that was a win-win trade if there ever was one. It’s more impressive they’re doing it without Ayo and Collins than Coby. Ayo makes things a lot easier for Donovan than Coby.
You should never expect a rookie to contribute right away except in very specific circumstances. Very few teams should be drafting to get players to contribute right away. Your thought process to drafting is completely wrong imo.