The Bulls raised high expectations in the summer, and for now they are living up to them. Less than a year ago, the Chicagoans were a team with too many seams. Zach LaVine was the front man, but his great performances too often fell to nothing. That seems to have changed. The Washington-born player is who he was; the difference is that now he is accompanied by a group of players prepared to perform at a high level night after night.
It is early to launch the bells to the flight, but they are two victories in two parties. During the Pelicans’ visit, the Illinoisans were strong and confident. In the first quarter they built an advantage, and from there they dedicated themselves to controlling the match so as not to have any trouble. LaVine stood out with 32 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists; However, more important for the future is to see the rest of the machinery work. DeMar DeRozan went up to 26 points and Lonzo Ball, who was playing against his former team, posted a triple-double of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Beyond individual performances, in Chicago they are building a style, a philosophy of play that they expect of great results. Just about it Billy Donovan spoke, who makes it clear that the dynamism of the whole must be the beginning of everything.
“We have to run. If we don’t run, we won’t be in a position to move and share the ball as we want. We have a really good team at instinctive passing. The faster we play in open court situations, the more we empower that instinct. That is what we have to do », sentence.
Missing Zion
That the Pelicans would miss Zion Williamson was a fact. The NOLA star continues to recover from surgery on his right foot and the team suffers from it. Brandon Ingram, the other piece on which the team must stand, was good with 26 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists; and he even had the help of Devonte ‘Graham’s 21 points and Jonas Valanciunas’ 18 points and 8 rebounds. It did not reach them. Willie Green, head coach of the Louisiana team, he understands that they must have patience to reach the desired level as a team.
We are still building. This is something we have to go through as a group. I told the guys in the locker room we’ll go over it together. I can see improvements game by game. We are not where we want to be, but we will get to that point, “he concludes.
(Photograph by Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images)