The Bulls fell to the Zion-led New Orleans Pelicans 125-119 on Thursday night. Here are three observations:
Chandler Hutchison, Coby White and Adam Mokoka (!) shined
As long as the injuries and losses continue to pile up, Development Watch© is officially on. Tonight, Chandler Hutchison and Coby White are your subjects.
All things considered, Hutchison’s foray into the starting lineup in place of the injured Kris Dunn has gone pretty well so far. He was a bright spot in the blowout loss in Toronto, notching 17 points and 5 rebounds two games after scoring a season-high 21 against Indiana. Tonight, he finished with a season-high 32 minutes, scoring 16 points, pulling down 8 rebounds and swiping 2 steals. His cutting, slashing and ferocious finishing continue to be encouraging:
Next up: Let’s work on the free throw shooting. Hutchison got to the line eight times tonight but made just four. He’s now 62.2% from the charity stripe on the season. The value of his assertiveness will only increase as that percentage does.
White, meanwhile, enjoyed a red-hot second quarter in which he canned two 3-pointers and scored 8 points overall, helping spur the Bulls offense to a 37-point period (unfortunately, the Pelicans scored 40). He finished with 14, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in 31 minutes.
It’s been a while since White’s last true spark-plug performance — he has one 20-point game since Nov. 23 — but we’ll take nights like this as blocks to build on.
Adam Mokoka also scored 15 in garbage time on 6-for-6 shooting and drew a booming MVP chant. That was part of an impossible-seeming 23-6 run in the last four minutes of the game by the Bulls, that ultimately fell short. Still, a nice moment.
The defense continues to struggle
The Bulls played like a team without three of their better defensive players tonight in Dunn, Wendell Carter Jr. and Otto Porter Jr. On the night, the Pelicans shot 56.3% from the field, scored 125 points and slung 38 assists — Jim Boylen should be proud.
NBA
The impact of the absence of those three is undeniable. In allowing 72 points in the opening two quarters, tonight marked the third time this season the Bulls have allowed 70 or more first half points in a game. All three happened in the last ten games, and two of those three have happened since Dunn’s injury. Those same nuggets go for allowing 100+ points through three periods.
Chalk some of tonight’s performance up to some incredible shotmaking by the Pelicans. They finished the night 16-for-38 from 3 (hitting 12 long-balls in the first half).
The overarching issue remains that the team’s defensive strategy is reliant on the correct personnel, and forcing turnovers. Right now, the Bulls don’t have the bodies to run the system at its best.
Zion picked up as the game went along
Early on, it looked like we might see a quiet night from Zion Williamson in his United Center regular season debut. He went scoreless with just one shot attempt the first quarter, then appeared to turn his ankle early in the second.
Fortunately, the roll was nothing serious and Williamson went on to play 25 minutes in the game. He was every bit as advertised. Williamson finished the night with 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting, eliciting oohs and aahs from the UC crowd on multiple occasions. Five turnovers were a blemish, but a couple of thunderous hammers more than made up for them:
He is good and fun.
Unfortunately, the Bulls couldn’t keep up. Zach LaVine led the charge with 22 points, but it was a night that saw fans, for the most part, heading for the exits early in the fourth.
Evidence suggests more of these types of performances might be in the near future. Here’s hoping for a surprise on Sunday in Philadelphia.
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