Chicago Bulls: Coby White electric in much needed win over Knicks

A big night from rookie point guard Coby White pushed the Chicago Bulls over the New York Knicks 120-102 on Tuesday night at the United Center.

For the second time this season, the Chicago Bulls notched a much-needed win over a subpar opponent thanks to a huge second half effort from rookie point guard Coby White. The first time that White did this was against the Memphis Grizzlies last month, where he pushed the Bulls to a win with a 20+ point night.

However, the Bulls were looking for revenge after they gave the New York Knicks their first win of the season last month at Madison Square Garden. That loss to the Knicks was possibly the worst of the seven for the Bulls after their first 10 games.

The Bulls entered this game with a record of 3-7, while the Knicks came in with a record of 2-8. Both teams seemed to be on their last legs in terms of keeping afloat in the race for playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.

Granted the Bulls should’ve been in much better position by this point than the Knicks in terms of contending for a playoff spot, even though it was just 10 games into the regular season. It didn’t help that the Bulls fell short against the Knicks by the final score of 105-98 in the last meeting between these two teams. The Bulls lost that game thanks to a 15-0 run that the Knicks finished out on.

However, the Bulls finished out the game much better against the Knicks this time around. And they did it without the services of the usual starting small forward Otto Porter Jr. Instead, second-year small forward Chandler Hutchison started on the wing.

A strong effort out of the gates for the Knicks didn’t stop the Bulls from coming up big down the stretch. It was nice to see head coach Jim Boylen and the Bulls not let a game go in the second half for a change.

What powered the Bulls to a nice second half output against the Knicks was the production from White off the bench. White was 8-of-14 from the field and 7-of-11 from three-point range, with his college head coach Roy Williams in attendance, for a game-high 27 points. He was a nice compliment to the 25 points posted by shooting guard Zach LaVine.

The Bulls needed help here to offset the turnover-fest put on by power forward Lauri Markkanen, LaVine, and point guard Kris Dunn off the bench. Even though the Bulls nabbed a nice double-digit victory here, they had one more turnover than the Knicks (19-18).

Markkanen had one of the worst marks of the night in particular, with six turnovers.

There was also a solid night for production from second-year center Wendell Carter Jr. He finished the night with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 12 rebounds. White, LaVine, and Carter Jr. were the three biggest reasons why the Bulls had such a good night in this 120-102 win at home at the United Center.

But the overarching storyline here will remain the production from White. This was his second Rookie of the Year caliber game, and he overcame another contender for those honors in this win over the Knicks. The former Duke Blue Devils wing RJ Barrett had a nice night with 21 points, nine assists, six rebounds, and two steals. Barrett also only had two turnovers in the process.

This was a truly impressive night from White to overcome a solid game from the Knicks. Four of the five Knicks in the starting five posted at least 17 points. The Bulls got huge production off the bench, mostly thanks to those 27 points from White. This win gives the Bulls their fourth of the young season and they’ll take on the Milwaukee Bucks on the road on Nov. 14 next.