Chicago Bulls: 5 best games from Coby White’s rookie season
3. Feb. 25 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Result: 124-122 Loss
It seems like White really liked to do a lot of his damage this season coming off the bench for the Chicago Bulls against teams from the West. Star veteran point guard Chris Paul and the Oklahoma City Thunder got to figure this fact out the hard way, but they still came out on top in the end. This game was the career-high in points that White has in an individual game to date.
The Thunder went back and forth all game long in the second half against the Bulls who just wouldn’t go away. That was largely thanks to the efforts of White and LaVine (who had a game-high 41 points). White himself posted a career-best 35 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the field, 6-of-9 from downtown, and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.
There was a massive run by the Bulls in the third quarter, mostly spearheaded by White, with a 38-19 margin to top the Thunder. By the fourth quarter got away from the Bulls, as they lost it by a margin of 33-29. That led to the two-point loss that the Bulls came away with in the end at home at the United Center.
Not only is this game the career-best in points scored in an individual outing for White this season, it is his best game score. He was also a net positive on the floor, +15 on the night. It’s just unfortunate that as the Bulls were looking for revenge after the Thunder’s 26-point comeback in the first meeting between the two teams on the season, White’s career-high went to waste.
There’s three large reasons why this isn’t considered one of the top two most memorable games for White thus far. Those are that LaVine partly stole the spotlight, the Bulls lost, and the hot streak ended for White after this defeat.