The Chicago Bulls are coming off one of the most disappointing losses of the young 2019-20 season. Can they turn things around tonight?
You could feel it coming. As soon as the Los Angeles Lakers gained a little momentum, it was clear the Chicago Bulls were going to lose that game. It’s simple: The Bulls haven’t learned how to win yet, and the Lakers have.
Now, the Bulls have two options moving forward. They can wallow in their own self-pity and roll over for the rest of the season, or they can keep fighting and work hard to improve. Tonight, we’ll find out which one of those options the Bulls are going with. Tonight, we’ll find out what this team is made of.
The Hawks are coming off a nice win last night at home against San Antonio. Trae Young dropped 29 and 13 in his first game back from injury. He’ll be the biggest problem tonight for Chicago.
Tomas Satoransky is fine on the defensive end of the court, but he’s too slow to guard Young. At 6-foot-7, he has fantastic length that could bother Young, but it’s unlikely that’ll matter. Sato won’t be able to stay in front of Young.
For that reason, I’m expecting to see more of Coby White tonight. He looked really good against the Lakers yesterday, and he possesses the quickness and speed to stay in front of Young on the defensive end of the court.
Will Jim Boylen give Coby the minutes he needs to be successful, though?
While I don’t think Boylen has been as bad as most Bulls fans are saying, there’s a lot of truth in the fact that he needs to shorten his rotation. Last night, he showed a little of that, only playing Shaquille Harrison and Ryan Arcidiacono in garbage time. Still, White needs to play more. I know he’s a rookie, and I know he’s struggled at times, but he’s one of the most skilled guys on the team and the Bulls need him on the floor. Period.
Atlanta has been one of the bright spots of the 2019-20 season so far. They look like what people in Chicago hoped the Bulls would look like. Trae Young is giving people a glimpse at the future of the point guard position and John Collins has turned into one of the league’s most dynamic pick-and-roll bigs. Unfortunately, Collins recently got suspended 25 games for violating the league’s anti-drug policy, so he’ll be out tonight.
Jabari Parker did a nice job of filling in for Collins last night, but will that last? The Bulls know Jabari’s strengths and weaknesses on offense and defense so that’s a matchup Lauri Markkanen should be able to exploit.
Whether the Bulls win or lose tonight isn’t as important as how they look during the game. If they look sluggish and sad, this is going to be a long season. If they look angry and motivated, they might be able to turn things around.
There’s still a lot of basketball left to be played.