Bulls Summer League: Tourney Runs Ends vs. Phoenix

The Chicago Bulls played the Phoenix Suns Saturday night in the Las Vegas Summer League quarterfinals. Doug McDermott and Cameron Bairstow were both out with injuries. The loss of depth for the Bulls deemed to be crucial as they were knocked out of the tournament, losing 91-84.

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The Bulls started out hot, taking an early 5-0 lead thanks to Vander Blue, who also had a very athletic alley-oop dunk later in the first quarter. Cristiano Felicio picked up two early fouls, however, he did make a nice cut to the basket but wasn’t able to finish, missing an easy wide-open layup. What impressed me the most about him was his defense. The young Brazilian had two blocked shots in just four minutes.

Not only did the Bulls start off hot offensively, they held dynamic scorer T.J. Warren to just 2-7 shooting. The one main issue in the first quarter for the Bulls was some foul trouble and that played a big role later in the game, as the Bulls had to go to their bench early.

Bobby Portis needed to step up for the Bulls with McDermott out and he did just that in the first half. Portis shot 5-11 from the field, scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Portis was also a catalyst on defense with a pair of first-half blocks. He was able to score down low, showing off his post moves, and also hit a couple perimeter jumpers. Portis did miss both of his three point attempts, but played a good first half nonetheless.

After a great opening frame, the Bulls fell flat on their face at the end of the second quarter. They held a four-point lead at halftime, but started playing sloppy at the end of the half. The Bulls led by as many as 15 and had a chance to blow out the Suns early. The sloppiness came from the Bulls having to use some of their players at the end of the bench. Guys like Blue, Felicio, Diante Garrett and T.J. Price all had three fouls at the end of the first half.

The Bulls did a good job of holding the Suns to just over 30% shooting in the first half. The last couple minutes of the half the Bulls let the Suns come back, which contributed in Phoenix turning this game around. Archie Goodwin went coast-to-coast with 16.8 seconds left in the half to cut the lead to two. The Bulls outplayed the Suns for most of the half, but the last couple of minutes gave the Suns life, and shifted the momentum going into the half.

The Suns had momentum coming out of the half, but the Bulls were able to hold on for most of the quarter. Despite trailing by one after three quarters, 59-58, it didn’t start out good for the Bulls as Blue picked up his fourth foul within the first 25 seconds of the quarter. Felicio and Garrett also picked up their fourth fouls midway through the quarter.

The Suns started to run more and it seemed like the game sped up to the Suns pace. The lone bright spot for the Bulls in the third quarter was Portis. He kept stuffing the stat sheet with 15 points and 13 rebounds through three quarters. He was able to keep the Bulls close by being the main scorer for the Bulls and continuing to be a pest on defense.

Suns guard Mike James had two highlight dunks that took away any momentum the Bulls had midway through the third quarter and more importantly, Warren’s shots started falling. Portis and Warren were having a great battle on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Despite the fouls, Felicio played more in the third quarter. Felicio impressed me a lot on defense and on the boards. I thought he rebounded very well on both ends of the floor. He’s still very raw on offense however. At one point in the third quarter, Felicio had the ball on the low block and he tried to use his body and shoot a fadeaway jumper and missed badly. Training camp will hopefully help him develop his offensive game more because he has a lot of potential and plays with a lot of energy.

The fourth quarter went the Suns way, even with Alex Len picking up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, later fouling out. Warren picked up the slack for the Suns, outplaying Portis, as he finished with 31 points and six rebounds. The Suns started pulling away but Portis and Ramon Galloway brought the Bulls back.

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But, a questionable foul call on Portis with 25 seconds left and a Tyrus McGee travel on the next play, put the game out of reach for good.

Portis was the star of the game for the Bulls. He needed to step up with McDermott out and he did, but didn’t get much help. Portis finished with an impressive line of 25 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks. He was a force on both the offensive and defensive side the whole game.

Galloway also had a good all-around game for the Bulls as he finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, shooting 6-13 from the field and 4-9 from behind the arc. Galloway did have six turnovers, along with some questionable shot attempts.

The Bulls played sloppy almost all game and totaled a ridiculous amount of fouls throughout the game. They finished with 23 turnovers and 34 fouls. Six players had four or more fouls. The Bulls may have been able to get away with the fouls, but the depth wasn’t there today, and as the game went on, you could see the fouls were really affecting them.

It was a disappointing end to the summer for the Bulls, but we were able to see what they might look like on offense under Fred Hoiberg. McDermott also had another good Summer League, averaging 18.8 PPG on 48.8% shooting. Portis struggled some games but also showed how much potential he has, especially when he was the go-to-guy against Phoenix. The Bulls also found another big man to invite to training camp later this summer in Felicio.

The Bulls may not have won the LVSL Tournament, but a lot of good things came out of the games.

Next: Chicago Bulls: Franchise Four

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