On the night of Feb. 22, it was veteran forward Thaddeus Young that stole the show in the second half for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls as they took on the Houston Rockets. Young and the Bulls faced fellow first-year head coach Stephen Silas and the Rockets on the road at the Toyota Center early this week, looking to extend their winning streak to two games.
And the Bulls certainly got off to the start that was needed to push their winning streak to two games. This was also the second straight Western Conference foe the Bulls faced after downing the Sacramento Kings and star point guard De’Aaron Fox at home at the United Center back on Feb. 20, by the final score of 122-114.
A solid start from second-year point guard Coby White gave the Bulls the lead early in this game, and the Rockets only maintained a lead for under a minute in the first half. Young largely sparked the Bulls efforts coming out of the locker room in the second half, which likely led to one of their best quarters of the regular season to date.
13,000 for the Chicago Bulls veteran
In the third quarter, Young and the Bulls outscored the Rockets 46-26. In his first 18 minutes played in this game off the bench for the Bulls, Young registered a whopping 15 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. It was another outing that looked like it could be a double-double, or even a triple-double, for Young.
Congrats to Thad Young for crossing 13,000 career points 💪 pic.twitter.com/Y2ZXuF4zaL
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 23, 2021
But the biggest part of this game for Young was scoring career point No. 13,000 in the second half. Young notched his 13,000th career point near the same point that he can reach 1,000 career regular season games played. This was the 991st career regular season game played for Young, in the Bulls road meeting with the Rockets on Feb. 22.
In general, Young is playing really well of late coming off the bench. In the 25 games Young played in for the Bulls so far this season (starting in none of them), he’s averaged 11.5 points per game, 5.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks. And he’s shot 59.5 percent from the field, 23.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 51.4 percent from the free-throw line.
Young is taking his game to new heights this season, including averaging a number of assists per game that nearly doubles his previous career high. Donovan seems like a great fit for Young as a coach. He really seems like a much better head coach for Young with the Bulls than former bench boss Jim Boylen.
The Bulls took a record of 13-16 into the road meeting with the Rockets on Feb. 22. And a big lead of more than 25 points at the end of the third quarter against the Rockets looked like the winning streak will be extended to two games.