The Chicago Bulls have been in a groove lately, and their late playoff push continued Saturday evening as Chicago took down the New Orleans Pelicans, 117-110.
Looking for a general idea of what tonight’s game was like?
The easiest answer would be that Nikola Mirotic had three blocks, including one beautiful stuff off an Anthony Davis double-clutch move. Oh, and an uber-efficient 39 points from Jimmy Butler.
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Heading into tonight’s game, the Chicago Bulls had won four of their previous five games, and they carried that momentum this game. The late-season surge, created thanks in large part to great play from Rajon Rondo and Mirotic, placed the Bulls in a tie for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
After tonight’s game, the Bulls remain in seventh place but are creeping up on the Atlanta Hawks. The remaining five games on their schedule are all teams below .500: the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets (twice), and the Orlando Magic.
If Chicago plays similar to its performance tonight, then fans can expect to see Chicago in the playoffs. Let’s just hope the games are aired on TNT.
Here’s your quarter-by-quarter analysis of the game!
First Quarter
The game started off well for the Bulls, who continuously grabbed offensive rebounds and then put up easy shots afterward for quick scores. Meanwhile, the Pelicans’ dynamic duo of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins began slowly, as Davis hurt his hand on the tip-off.
The potential play of the game occurred a few minutes in when Mirotic swatted Davis’ shot out of bounds (of course, in classic Niko style, it was after he jacked up a crazy 3-pointer, but hey, we’ll take it). The Bulls led 17-8 with 5:44 remaining.
Staying with the Bulls, Rondo continued tearing it up with his excellent passes, throwing multiple full-court dimes to Jimmy Butler and running the pick and roll effectively. Say what you want about Rondo, but he has been very strong lately for Chicago.
At the end of the first, the Bulls led 28-21.
Second Quarter
The Bulls built off their efficient first quarter by going on a 12-0 run (including the end of the first) thanks to a pair of buckets by Denzel Valentine.
For the Pelicans, nobody was creating much other than Davis, but the Bulls were doing a good job on him defensively. By forcing the others to shoot rather than Davis, Chicago was able to go on a big run despite having both Butler and Rondo on the bench.
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New Orleans tried to claw back, cutting the lead to six, but their brief success was countered once Butler and Rondo checked back into the game.
Butler finished the second out extremely well, having one of his most efficient games this season. He led all scorers at halftime with 25 points, and it did it on a magnificent 9-11 shooting from the field.
The Bulls led 63-47 at the half.
Third Quarter
The start of the second half consisted of lots of back and forth between both teams. Seriously: Mirotic hit a 23-foot 3-pointer, and then Tim Frazier came down on the other end and hit, you guessed it, a 23-foot 3-pointer.
Chicago was doing a great job offensively; every player was touching the ball, and the ball movement was beautiful (these are the dreams Fred Hoiberg has about this team). Unfortunately, New Orleans played aggressively, and they came back within nine points thanks to a few wide open misses by the Bulls.
The Pelicans continued their recent tradition of trying to always have either Cousins or Davis in the game, but once Davis went out, the Bull started to have their way, taking advantage of Cousins’ refusal to come out of the paint.
After three quarters, the Pelicans were back in the game, only down 79-87.
Fourth Quarter
The Bulls started the fourth off hot, going on a 10-2 run capped off by a Valentine 3-pointer and stare into the crowd.
Off the bench, Bobby Portis had a fantastic game (he finished with 21 points), and he hit a baby hook over Cousins and a pair of 3-pointers to really put the Bulls ahead. Chicago led 100-80 with 9 minutes left in the game.
One of Portis’ 3-pointers marked number 10 for Chicago, who have now hit at least 10 3s in their past seven games.
The end of the game started off extremely entertaining, as Rondo and Cousins were going at each other. Rondo got nailed by Cousins’ screen, and then Rondo went on to return the favor by taking Boogie down on a drive.
Don’t worry, though, Rondo survived the big hit from Cousins.
Paul Zipser Gives Rondo CPR, Rajon Rondo Lives pic.twitter.com/rJADPyhI5T
— Gustavo (@iamvega1982) April 3, 2017
The altercations between the two sparked Boogie, and all of a sudden the Pelicans came back within six with 1:22 remaining, 107-113. However, a beautiful chasedown block by Paul Zipser killed New Orleans’ momentum and iced the game for Chicago.
The buzzer sounded, and the Bulls won the game, 115-107.