Billy Donovan doesn't need to worry when his starters are having a difficult night. When Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis or Nikola Vucevic don't have it going, he can lean on a luxury no Chicago Bulls coach has had since Tom Thibodeau: One of the NBA's best and deepest bench units.
The Bench Mob 2.0, if you will.
The 2010-11 Bulls finished 62-20 and earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, powered by Derrick Rose during his age-22 MVP season. Rose scored 25.0 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds per game and 7.7 assists per game. Carlos Boozer played second fiddle. Luol Deng and Keith Bogans each started all 82 games. Joakim Noah started 48 and was named to the All-Defense second team.
But it was Chicago's bench, led by Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Watkins and Omer Asik, that gave Thibodeau an extra advantage every night. This year's crew is on a similar trajectory.
The Chicago Bulls are winning games with an elite bench
The Bulls had everything going against them heading into a Nov. 17 matchup against the Denver Nuggets. It was the second night of a back-to-back. The previous evening, they lost to the Utah Jazz in a game that went to double overtime. The Nuggets were 10-2. Nikola Jokic is on the way to potentially a fourth MVP. The game was being played at 5,280 feet above sea level. Coby White, who took the floor for the first time this season against the Jazz and led the team in scoring, wasn't playing.
As if all that wasn't enough, the Bulls did Bulls things and blew an 18-point lead. And a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Yet they won. And it wasn't because Giddey had another triple-double, or because Vucevic hit a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute. It was because Chicago's bench showed up and ran the title-contending Nuggets off the floor.
The Bulls' bench outscored Denver's 66-9. That's not a typo. Ayo Dosunmu had 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting and added five assists. Jalen Smith had 16 points and eight rebounds in less than 18 minutes. Jevon Carter was the standout surprise for Chicago -- the 30-year-old shot 5-for-10 from three and finished with 15 points.
Donovan's reserve unit was a combined +90. The Nuggets was -78. Again, not a typo.
The Bulls' bench is averaging 48.1 points so far this year, the second-most in the NBA. The group is third in 3-point percentage (40.4), attempts the eighth-most free throws per game (8.8) and hits those at an 81.7-percent clip, second-best in the league. Its net rating of 2.9 ranks fifth.
If it weren't apparent enough through the first 12 games of this season, the win in Denver is proof that Chicago's second unit is deep and productive enough to ensure that the Bulls have a fighting chance on a nightly basis.