The Chicago Bulls snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday night with a 106-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The win was crucial for a number of reasons and is something the team will look to build off of moving forward.
It evens the season series between the two teams at one game apiece with the third and final matchup set for April 21 in Cleveland. Before that game, the Bulls will have a matchup with the Boston Celtics on April 19 while the Cavaliers will play the Detroit Pistons on the same date.
As the Bulls have had little time to practice together since making multiple trade deadline acquisitions, every game serves as a practice of sorts. The only difference is these are practices that actually matter as the team is in a tight race for the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference.
That makes every takeaway that much more important from these games. This is really the only opportunity for fans, opponents and the team to gain intel on this roster.
Chicago Bulls Takeaway from the win: Tomas Satoransky efficient off bench in return
Tomas Satoransky missed the Bulls previous game with an illness but returned for the game against the Cavaliers. He was not inserted back into the starting unit as Billy Donovan chose to keep Coby White in the starting five to help make up for some of the scoring punch lost with Zach LaVine’s absence.
Sato didn’t take the role change personally it would seem. Despite seeing just 15 minutes, Satoransky was incredibly efficient and made an impact on the game in limited action.
The veteran guard made all three of his field-goal attempts, including one from behind the arc. He chipped in three assists as well while not turning the ball over and ended the game with a +/- of + 4.
It won’t blow you away when looking at the box score but it was very helpful to the team in picking up the win. No misses and no turnovers make for an efficient night and it seems Sato will be comfortable whether in the starting unit or coming off the bench.
That makes him that much more of a weapon for the coaching staff. With little known about his illness that causes him to miss a game, it was also nice to see him come back and show no signs of still feeling the effects.
Chicago Bulls Takeaway from the win: Coby White once again makes an impact in the starting five
Coby White was inserted into the starting five due to the combination of Sato missing the last game and at the same time, Zach LaVine missing his first game of what might be an extended absence.
White is now two for two in strong performances with the starting lineup since a stretch serving as the team’s sixth man. What is most important to take from this one, though, is that he was impactful even though his shot wasn’t falling.
Coming off a 27 point game on 8-17 shooting, one might expect White to come out scoring the ball in this one. That wasn’t the case. The second-year guard shot 0-3 in the first quarter but had three assists.
More from Pippen Ain't Easy
- The dream starting 5 for the Chicago Bulls 5 years from now
- Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu inspires the future with new school program
- Chicago Bulls NBA 2K24 full roster ratings, risers, and fallers
- Bulls sign a pair of promising guards to Exhibit 10 contracts
- When does NBA Training Camp start? Dates Bulls fans need to know
By halftime, he was 0-5 with one point and four assists. He also had a turnover. His confidence did not waver, though. White went 2-5 in the second half with another five assists. That led to a final line of 8 points and 9 assists.
He shot 2-10, so one might see the box score and jump to the conclusion that he played a bad game. I’d strongly disagree with that and instead would argue he had a good game that was impressive to see from him at this point in his career.
He continued getting teammates involved, including a crucial late find of Lauri Markkanen on a huge bucket, despite not having the shooting touch on the night. Additionally, he was in great control when he was on the court.
That is something he needs to start doing consistently if he wants to be a starting point guard in the NBA for years to come. Half the battle for young point guards is controlling the game and putting their team in positions to succeed.
White once again showed glimpses that he could become that player one day. There’s hope among fans that the injury of LaVine could provide the opportunity White needs to step up and earn a bigger role on the team moving forward.
Chicago Bulls Takeaway from the win: Lauri Markkanen’s roller-coaster season continues, this time in a positive way
Common among Chicago Bulls fans is frustration and disappointment in how things have played out in the fourth year of Lauri Markkanen’s NBA career. He has had moments that remind fans why he was an early lottery pick and he has followed those outings with games where he seems disinterested in scoring the basketball.
Tonight was one of the good nights for Markkanen in what could be his final season playing in Chicago. It is a reminder of why teams would be interested in adding him and jumping at the opportunity to maximize the skill set he has.
Markkanen was second on the team in scoring, finishing with 16 points on 6-12 shooting. He added six defensive rebounds in 26 minutes of action off the Bulls bench. The six field goals made match the total field goals he made in the Bulls previous four games combined.
If Chicago is going to survive the absence of LaVine they are going to need more of these performances from Markkanen. It would help both parties, as the team would win more games and Lauri would set himself up for potentially bigger contract offers this offseason.
He has all the talent, the issue has seemingly been confidence. That became more evident when he switched to coming off the bench and started having games where he looked like he had no interest in scoring.
The sharpshooting big man needs to play like this more often and this game served as a reminder of the X-factor he could be for the Bulls down the stretch.
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.