Chicago Bulls Takeaway from the win: Need to get to the free-throw line more
The Bulls are developing a bad tendency to not get to the free-throw. They rank dead last in the league in free throw attempts per game (18.1) and against the Cavs shot just nine as a team.
While they were able to get away with that against a worse Cleveland team, it can’t be part of the formula moving forward. The Bulls need to get to the line more in order to get those ‘free’ points and slow the game down at times.
Obviously, LaVine is a big part of getting to the line. Still, the rest of his teammates didn’t do enough to help him all season and it’s still happening. Over their last five games, the team is getting to the line 12.6 times on average.
That number, like their season-long average, is dead last in the entire league. They can get away with it against the Cavaliers but need to make a point of getting to the line more against better teams. One that comes to mind is the Celtics, who they play on Monday night.
Although he is a good shooter from the line, Vooch isn’t necessarily good at getting to the line. It would be nice to see him make a point to do so against teams he has obvious mismatches against, once again the upcoming game with the Celtics coming to mind.
Other players that have the ability to get to the line more but have failed to earn the trips include Coby White, Thaddeus Young and Patrick Williams. If they can improve on these easy points night in and night out, they would be much more capable of beating good teams on any given night.