The Bulls improved to 3-6 with an impressive bounceback 113-93 road victory over the Hawks Wednesday night. Here are three observations:
Tomas Satoransky was aggressive again, while Lauri Markkanen was aggressive—finally
The offense is different when Satoransky pushes pace, makes good decisions and looks for his shot. He reached double figures for his first time as a Bull, finishing with a career-high 27 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
Following Monday’s practice, Satoransky took exception to a question about whether his strong play for his native Czech Republic in this summer’s FIBA World Cup tired him out. Instead, while acknowledging he hadn’t played well to that point, he pointed to his different role with the Bulls and learning new teammates.
This is two straight strong games from the starting point guard, who also teamed with Kris Dunn to play strong defense on Trae Young.
As for Markkanen, he had attempted single-digit shots in three straight games before getting 12 against the Hawks. Markkanen, who sank a season-high four 3-pointers and scored 17 points, needs to be more aggressive. But the Bulls also need to get him more shots. Along those lines, they utilized him in the post occasionally.
NBA
Jim Boylen changed the rotation
First, he staggered the minutes of some starters so that he didn’t field lineups with five reserves at once. When he did use a three-guard lineup, it featured Zach LaVine, Tomas Satoransky and Ryan Arcidiacono rather than the vertically challenged look of Arcidiacono, Kris Dunn and Coby White.
In perhaps the biggest tweak, he dropped out Luke Kornet completely in the first half. Markkanen moved to center when Boylen took out Wendell Carter Jr. early as part of his plan to stagger the starters’ minutes. Even when Carter drew three fouls, Boylen used Thad Young at center rather than Kornet.
The 7-foot-2-inch Kornet drew some second-half minutes when the Bulls pushed the lead past 20, particularly since they were down one body when Otto Porter Jr. sat out with a left foot contusion. But expect Boylen to try a three-man rotation at center for the near future.
Trae Young didn’t make his typical impact
Young posted 29 points and 13 assists in the Hawks’ Tuesday night victory over the Spurs and finished the back-to-back in his first two outings since returning from an ankle injury. So there’s that.
Whether he’s still adjusting to playing on that ankle after performing so well Tuesday, he just had an off night or the Bulls’ defense smothered him, it doesn’t matter. It worked.
Young finished with nine points, three assists and four turnovers, shooting 3-for-12 and missing all eight of his 3-point attempts. Kris Dunn, who tied his career-high with five steals, bothered him with physical play.
By the way, Dunn now has at least three steals in four of the Bulls’ nine games. And the Bulls' defense forced 24 turnovers overall, which they often converted into offense with 31 points off those miscues.
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