Takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ 105-83 Victory over Orlando
By Willie Lutz
It’s hard to pin together how the Bulls smacked the Magic, but last night was a decisive victory.
In the span of 6 days, the Bulls went from looking completely incompetent against the Thunder to beating red-hot Orlando team by 22.
Last night didn’t require a world-beater outing from Lauri Markkanen; he had just 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (3-of-4 from three). It didn’t take any advanced, late-game strategizing. Simply, the Bulls didn’t need a miracle from god to win last night’s contest.
Instead, the team from Chicago took a one-point deficit into the locker room at halftime and flipped the script of the entire night.
In the second half, the 2-5 Bulls outscored the 6-3 Magic by a margin of 61-38.
The Bulls outworked the Magic on the glass, 56-43, and made a lot of important shots. Going 11-of-12 as a team from the free-throw line gave them a good hand, but sinking 14-of-29 from three-point land sealed the deal
Despite the Bulls overall offensive struggles, head coach Fred Hoiberg’s bunch appears mighty on defense. Holding the league’s No. 4 scoring offense (averaging 111.4 PPG) to just 83 was huge. The Bulls defense ranks No. 5 in points allowed (98.6) and No. 8 in defensive rating.
Tonight displayed a great team win, but here are some of the guys who put my brain to work: