It’s been a while since the Bulls had an identity and enforced that onto another team, but in back-to-back wins they’ve done just that. This time it was Boston who got a taste of this suddenly defensive-minded crew.
Daniel Theis knows what a great defender looks like.
The new Bulls rim protector reminds rookie Patrick Williams of that whenever they talk.
“I talk a lot to Pat, Pat Williams, because I think he can be one of the best defenders in this league with his size, with his physicality, with his wingspan,’’ Theis said on Monday.
The physical big man also knows what a great defensive team looks like.
The last two seasons alone, Theis and his Boston teammates were the second stingiest to try and score against last year and eighth during the 2018-19 campaign.
“I wouldn’t call it frustrating,’’ Theis said, when asked how he’s now been dealing with the inconsistent defense of the Bulls since he came over at the Mar. 25 trade deadline. “We’ve shown improvement. I just mentioned the 96 points [allowed] against Cleveland [Saturday], and that’s a good start, but we want to do it every night, and not just one game and then five games the offense gets 120, 130 points again. So we’ve got to do it every night, every game, to play physical.’’
How does two-straight sound?
With Zach LaVine missing his third game in the league’s health and safety protocol, the Bulls (24-33) continued embracing their new identity, again holding the opposition to 96 points, beating the Celtics 102-96.
While coach Billy Donovan likes what’s he’s obviously seen since a team meeting after the loss to Orlando, like Theis, he now wants this style of play to be sustainable.
“I give our guys credit for staying the course,’’ Donovan said. “But it’s been two games and now can we come back against Cleveland [Wednesday] and do it again, can we come back against Charlotte and do it again? That’s the sign of a good team, when you can consistently do it.’’
Veteran guard Garrett Temple not only thinks they can, but feels this style of ugly-ing up a game and going with an old-school defensive mentality can carry them over the final 15 regular-season games.
“Defense can win games,’’ Temple said. “The old saying still holds true. … I think for a ten, 15-game stretch like we have it is [sustainable].’’
It always helps when the Bulls can get 29 points and nine rebounds from Nikola Vucevic like they did, and then can get key stops down the stretch.
Coby White scored with two minutes left in the game to put his team up four, and then Williams made it a six-point lead with 1:41 left. Payton Pritchard made two free throws to cut it back to four, as both teams turned up the defense in a series of missed opportunities, highlighted by the Bulls stripping the ball from the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown along the way.
At least until Boston’s Tremont Waters darted through the lane and hit a lay-up to cut the Bulls lead to just two with 16.5 seconds left.
Boston (31-27) put White on the free throw line and the suddenly-revitalized guard made them both. It became a free throw contest after that, with the Bulls getting the final say when Temple sank two with 3.5 seconds left to ice the game.
It also ended an eight-game losing streak the Bulls had in Boston.
“We lost a big piece in Zach, 28 [points] a game,’’ Temple added. “But if we’re able to guard like we’re capable of we have enough on the other end to score. We defend, we grind, we guard like we’re capable of then we can win any game we play.’’
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3dtN6Y1
No comments:
Post a Comment