The Chicago Bulls are coming off a win against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night that saw them move to 3-2 in the five games played since Zach LaVine entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
It has not always been pretty in the five games played without LaVine, but no one expected it to be. The Bulls are still learning to play with each other and are now forced to do so in must-win games despite not having their best player available.
Even though one of the five games played resulted in the team’s ugliest loss of the season, there are a few players on the Bulls roster that have stepped up in the sum of the five games played. Remember, this team had won just 3 of 11 games after the NBA trade deadline but before LaVine was ruled out indefinitely.
By matching that win total in the five games without their all-star guard, obviously players on the team have stepped up in big ways. Some more obvious than others, but all equally important, one could argue.
Chicago Bulls Stepping up with Zach LaVine Out: Garrett Temple
The first player that deserves mentioning here is the man who has slotted into the starting unit due to LaVine’s absence; Garrett Temple. Temple stepped up right when his team needed him to despite coming straight off the injury report in doing so.
Leading up to being tossed into the starting lineup, Temple had played a grand total of 10 minutes in the month of April. That is from April 1st to April 14th.
Since April 16th, when Temple was asked to join the starters, he has played 134 minutes for the Bulls. Without a doubt, there was some good luck in the timing here for Billy Donovan, but it still needs to be noted how ready Temple was to step up and step in.
In the Bulls recent five games, he has shot 9-21 (42.9 percent) from behind the arc while playing the third-most total minutes.