Chicago Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers: 3 Takeaways, Notes from Monday’s Win
3. Nikola Mirotic needed this game more than the Bulls did
Regardless if you think Nikola Mirotic is/is going to be a good NBA player, no one can deny that the 25-year-old does have flashes of awesome play for the Bulls.
There have been and there are going to be some nights where Mirotic is going to have to pick up the slack from the starters and throughout most of the season, Mirotic has done nothing to provide support for the main pieces of the rotation.
And then, Mirotic has the game he had on Monday and then everyone wonders, “Is this where he turns the corner?”
.@threekola came up big in a game the #Bulls needed tonight: pic.twitter.com/mDpP1r9DcH
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 27, 2016
In 30 minutes of game time on Monday, Mirotic scored 20 points off the bench on 7-of-13 shooting against the Pacers. It wasn’t his shooting that made him headline news. It was the way he was scoring and it was his fantastic play on both ends (specifically late in the ballgame) that made Mirotic stand out.
Mirotic was scoring from the post, hitting outside shots, making plays off the dribble and looking like the guy the Bulls were hoping he’d be at the start of this season.
Remember the video of Dwyane Wade’s game-sealing steal that you’ve already watch in this list? Notice the defender that hounded Aaron Brooks into throwing a terrible cross-court pass right to Wade to end the game. It was Mirotic.
Oh, and there’s really no way to describe the shot Mirotic hit over Thaddeus Young, who was all over him in the final seconds of the shot clock with the Bulls’ lead sitting at just one with 21.2 seconds left.