Bulls Close Out Game in Tough Match-up vs. Raptors for the Win

Bulls Close Out Game in Tough Match-up vs. Raptors for the Win

The Bulls we’re back on TNT it’s been a while since we’ve seen the Bulls win a game on TNT also why is Charles Barkley hating on the Bulls so much I remember back in the day when he used to love the Bulls because he loved Joe Keem always

Called him his favorite player and I understood at the beginning of the season when he was hating on this team when they were playing like absolute crap and needed to blow things up in a hurry but come on now the Bulls are looking better you can give them a

Little credit for their improved play and not just completely folding on their season back in November that said though well I’m glad the Bulls got the win they closed cled out on a team that they were supposed to beat they did what they had to do in finishing off the game and not

Cracking under pressure when Toronto took a fourth quarter lead but yeah still not a great game overall for the Bulls there were a lot of good things to take away from this game which I’ll get to but when you’re playing against a Toronto Raptors team a team that just

Traded their best player they’re playing with a completely new roster after new additions of RJ Barrett and Emanuel quickley as well you also factor in the Raptor play last night although they did win in a pretty convincing fashion but the Bulls should have won this game a

Little more convincingly I mean it kind of kind of goes back to some of these recent wins we’ve seen from the B close games against the Spurs without Wy overtime win against the Rockets and the Hornets again I’m glad they’re taking care of business and they’re finishing

Off these teams they’re supposed to be but the fact that they’re letting these teams hang around the energy level hasn’t quite been what it used to be they’re fouling and turning the ball over at a higher rate yeah it’s a bit concerning as I said in my last postgame

Video though hopefully this is just a fatigue Factor setting in in the dog days of the season in January leading up to the all-star break before the final push of the year but I missed the play style that we were seeing towards the end of December where guys were playing

With much better Pace higher energy higher effort and no I’m not going to put all that on LaVine like look LaVine is back now and we’re seeing the energy fall a bit because Zach is actually playing pretty well and engaged despite knowing his days could be numbered I

Really put that more on the team as a whole speaking of LaVine by the way hoping he’s okay he left the locker room early after what looked like he rolled his ankle came back said he was fine played another 2 minutes or so and then

Got subbed out by IO and did not return for the rest the game no update on the latest from Zach as I’m recording this anyway hopefully it’s something serious and Zach is ready to go by Saturday against the Grizzlies but anyway enough about the negatives of this game let’s

Talk about what worked how about the fact that the Bulls had another game where they had another 30 assists they mooved the ball well they were getting guys involved and it also helps when you’re shooting the ball really well bull shot 52% overall from the field but

What was different about tonight is the Bulls focused on scoring in the paint 75 points in the paint tonight for the Bulls a season high this for team that averages about 45 points in the paint 28th in the league in scoring in the paint and you had to expect that would

Be the case given the Raptors are without yaka purle they lost some size with SE yakum as well going inside when the Raptors don’t have as much Rim protection as they’re used to seeing is the way to go and the Bulls made them pay so the Bulls very efficient scoring

Inside outside though not so much 6 for 24 from three in this one just 25% but scoring efficiency inside has been a problem for the Bulls as of late particularly from Nicola vuvi who was having a down year in shots at The Rim but tonight this is one of V’s best

Games of the season 24 points 14 rebounds seven assists flirted with a triple double two Steals and a block was quick was decisive with his shot selection had great footwork in the paint to beat his man to the basket 12 for 20 overall from the floor he was

Plus 23 in this game just a gray all around performance from Nicola vuich and then Kobe white was also a plus 23 in this one well he didn’t shoot it very well he’s kind of going back into that three-point shooting slump that we saw just a few weeks ago but despite going

One for six from behind the arc he was very crafty and effective at attacking the basket and using his athleticism to finish and of course he had that big bucket to seal the game that put the Bulls up by six with less than 20

Seconds to go I was glad we got to see Kobe take that one in by the way for that final shot I wasn’t about to see Demar on another ISO play where guys stand around and watch but Kobe great game for him 23 points eight rebounds four assists and two steals now for

Demar d well I wasn’t too pleased by what we saw from DeMar in the fourth quarter because I felt like he was trying to do just a little too much in front of the Toronto crowd but then ended up missing a lot of shots had a couple of bad turnovers in

The fourth well I wasn’t pleased with it he was still great the rest of this game very efficient great shot selection he was getting guys involved did a great job at drawing defenses away from other guys and would kick it out to the open man he finished the game with six

Assists seven rebounds and 24 points still though I would really like to see more options in the final minutes I know dear is the go-to guy but I need to see more movement more flexibility and Randomness on the offensive side in closeout moments because when the shots from dear aren’t falling it’s oneandone

Possessions for the Bulls and the Raptors almost took advantage of that tonight and stole this game again as I’ve said before I also put some of that on coaching to mix it up and get more options and better flow and closing out moments again why I loved seeing Kobe

Attack the basket and get that last shot and finish how about Alex kuso though man I’m always just amazed by what he’s able to do defensively because while you’re not going to see eye popping defensive stats in the Box Score granted he still had two Steals and two blocks

Tonight but it’s his ability to get in passing Lanes out of nowhere make deflections to disrupt a breakaway play his ability to duck under and navigate through screens which makes it so hard for an opponent to get open just love everything the guy does and how much he

Hustles when he’s on the court he also hit a big three in the final minutes for the Bulls and when they needed it badly he continues making a case for why he’s one of the better three and D guys in the NBA right now just phenomenal

Phenomenal work by AC and then you also have to give credit to I dumu stepping up in the moment when his number was call when Zack LaVine had to go out he was solid in closing moments and wasn’t afraid of being under pressure iow 10 points five assists tonight and was a

Big help for the Bulls defensively in those final possessions of the game now Patrick Williams was back in the lineup after missing the last two games a good game for Pat I was a little bothered that he kind of started looking more like passive Pat we’ve seen in the past

There would be a lot of times where the ball would come into him he would kind of make these weird attempts to drive to the hoop but his ball handling was so off that he would have to pull it back out and then there were times where he

Would pass up on good looks from three I don’t know for me it’s just we were seeing better on ball creation from Patrick Williams more recently and that wasn’t the case tonight but again he’s been out the last couple of games so I’ll leave it be for now he still ended

Up with 12 points off the bench in only 23 minutes so it wasn’t a bad night offensively for him I was just hoping for a little more aggression dude didn’t even have a single Rebound in this one but anyway the Bulls get the win they’ll fly back to Chicago they’re off tomorrow

Before taking on the Grizzlies who are actually playing right now on TNT they play them on Saturday at the United Center this is another game the Bulls have to win a depleted Grizzlies team although oddly enough they’re actually playing decently well without having John Moran or Desmond Bane but a chance

For the Bulls to move to within two games under 500 now just three games back behind the Orlando Magic for eighth in the East let me know what you guys thought of tonight’s game let me know in the comments as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next

One

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Reacting and recapping the Bulls win over the Toronto Raptors

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