Takeaways from the Chicago Bulls loss to the Cavaliers: The team should be well-rested against the Hornets
The Bulls should be as well-rested as a team can be in the second night of a back-to-back. Due to their abysmal performance to start this game they didn’t play anyone a significant amount of minutes.
That should be able to be a positive in the Thursday night game against the Hornets, though this team has hardly been predictable or given what is expected.
Only one player on the Bulls roster eclipsed the 30-minute mark, guard Coby White. Two starters didn’t even crack the 20-minute mark. Those two players would be rookie forward Patrick Willams and big man Daniel Theis.
The end of the bench even got a couple of minutes of late run in this one. The Bulls hopefully used the extra time on the bench to think about what they need to do better in their next game and moving forward. That is a long list, so thinking about it early couldn’t really hurt.
Big man Nikola Vucevic saw just 25 minutes, while veteran forward Thaddeus Young saw only 17 minutes off the bench himself.
In a season that is very compressed into tight windows, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was smart to limit his key players’ minutes as he realized they would be unable to dig themselves out of the early hole they dug.
While no one on the team saw an overbearing number of minutes in the previous game, maybe the extra minutes will help the Bulls come into their next game with fresh legs. If they pair that with fresh minds they have a chance of bouncing back and avoiding a fall in the playoff picture.