To avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Houston Rockets and head coach Stephen Silas, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls came up with a big win in the back end of back-to-back games on Dec. 20. The Bulls got to face the Rockets on this night to move their winning streak to two games, and that’s exactly what this team did to round out this set of back-to-back games.
Controlling this game from beginning to end, the Bulls looked really good as this team continues to try and make their way back to full health. But this was a largely similar rotation that the Bulls saw in their Dec. 19 win at home at the United Center over superstar forward LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Chicago Bulls win two in a row in an important set of back-to-back games
The win over the Lakers, though, came in a much closer fashion than this one did over the Rockets. The Bulls downed the Lakers to round out the weekend by just a five-point margin. It took a clutch performance from star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan, with a game-high 38 points, to beat the Lakers.
Yet, the Bulls got a complete team effort really to nab this win over the Rockets. The bench came through with more than 50 points on the night to nab a 133-118 win where the final score was actually not a true indicator of how much the Bulls controlled this game.
Here’s a look into two studs, and one dud, from the Bulls’ convincing 15-point win over the Rockets on Dec. 20.
Chicago Bulls studs from win over the Rockets: Alfonzo McKinnie
You can’t go through a studs list for the Bulls from this win over the Rockets without talking about the newly re-upped Chicago native forward Alfonzo McKinnie. The former Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers forward McKinnie came through with his best performance yet for the Bulls in this game, helping to spark the bench in a big way.
It was clear that the two best players coming off the bench for the Bulls in this game were McKinnie and third-year point guard Coby White. But only one of these two Bulls players could get one of the two studs spots on this list.
I did go with McKinnie over White thanks to his well-rounded performance that also came at the right time. McKinnie just got his 10-day contract re-upped coming out of the weekend. And he really proved that he belongs with this roster.
Who knows, maybe the Bulls will keep him around instead of someone like the sharpshooting guard/wing Matt Thomas.
In this win over the Rockets, McKinnie came up with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, and with no attempts from the free-throw line. He also registered five rebounds (two of which came on the offensive glass), one assist, no steals, one block, and no turnovers.
This outing for McKinnie looked to have Bulls fans clamoring to keep him around for the rest of the season. And that makes sense if it is possible for the Bulls to shift the roster around to part ways with someone that is less of an effective fit with this group.
For the time being, though, it is worth recognizing how special this performance was for McKinnie to get the win in the back end of these back-to-back games.
Chicago Bulls dud from win over the Rockets: Nikola Vucevic
The two-time All-Star center Nikola Vucevic is still having some trouble at times finding his rhythm. Vucevic is coming through with some disappointing performances more often than not given how good he was in the last few seasons for the Orlando Magic. He was also solid for the Bulls in his run with the team post-deadline last season.
This definitely wasn’t the worst outing we’ve ever seen from Vucevic, but he was still having a lot of trouble finding his rhythm from beyond the arc. Vucevic finished up this game with 18 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, 2-of-8 from beyond the arc, and with no attempts from the free-throw line.
Vucevic also came up with six rebounds, four assists, no steals, two blocks, and no turnovers. While it was good to see Vucevic go through this game without turning the ball over, and protecting the rim well with two blocks, there were some downsides for him here.
It was also difficult to come up with any other duds on this list given how well most of the Bulls played in this game. We’re hoping to see Vucevic find his rhythm soon as he is still shooting the lowest field goal percentage of his career (around 40.5) and the second-lowest percentage from the free-throw line (63.9) of his career to date.
In a game where the Bulls were also out-rebounded slightly, it would also be good to see Vucevic come down with more than six rebounds. He was active on the boards at times, but could’ve got better positioning down low throughout most of the game.
Chicago Bulls studs from win over the Rockets: Lonzo Ball
Another Bulls player that you can’t go without mentioning in this game is the two-way point guard Lonzo Ball. The Bulls don’t have as efficient of a game on the offensive end of the floor and win the turnover battle as they did so comfortably, without the two-way efforts of Lonzo on this night.
Lonzo was once again extremely active in terms of disrupting his opponent in the passing lanes. It seemed like Lonzo wasn’t letting up at all in terms of his on and off-ball defense. That’s what led to him posting a game-high five steals. He also registered one block in this win over the Rockets.
This is the second game so far this season where Lonzo came up with at least five steals. But it is the first game for Lonzo with at least five steals and one block. His other game with five steals on the season so far also came with no blocks in a dominant Nov. 26 win over the Magic.
Moreover, Lonzo was good for the Bulls in this game in other respects too. He came up with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, 4-of-9 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.
His five rebounds and team-high eight assists were just the cherries on top of this spectacular performance from Lonzo. That’s not to mention the fact that he tied a team-high as a +17 on the floor in this game.
If the Bulls are going to get this type of production moving forward out of Lonzo, watch out for what’s to come next. Lonzo was great for the Bulls in this game, and this is the type of play that Chicago was looking for when they signed him away from the New Orleans Pelicans during the offseason.