Submitted by National Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Chicago Bulls opened a four-game road trip against Western Conference teams with a 113-109 win over the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Monday night.
“This is big,” DeMar DeRozan said. “We have to keep this momentum going into the next game.”
Here are 10 notes:
— The Bulls rallied from a 22-point deficit in the third quarter, finishing on a 9-1 run after a Domantas Sabonis foul.
“This group just keeps fighting,” coach Billy Donovan said.
The Bulls have now authored three comebacks of at least 21 points this season.
“I just think the character of the guys in this room,” Coby White said when asked about the team's resiliency. “For me, I've been here for five years. I've been playing with some of these guys. But just getting to know their backgrounds, where they come from, their journeys, their stories, how they can fight through just adversity in life. The basketball court is easy. But the things that have gone by It has a lot of these guys in their lives and how they fought through it and how every challenge that came their way seemed to be overcome and over that wall. The character of this room creates the resiliency of this basketball team.
— White scored a career-high 37 points, marking his first 30-point game since Feb. 14. He shot 14-for-19 after not attempting a shot in the first quarter. White also had seven assists in an overall strong game. It is the seventh game in which White has scored 30 points this season, equaling his total in his first four seasons combined.
“I was just trying to let the game come to me,” White said. “Ayo (Dosunmu) really hit it off in that first quarter. He was really aggressive going downhill and catching and shooting. So I was just trying to beat him, let him do his thing. And then when I had the opportunities, 'I wanted to take advantage of that.' I wasn't trying to force anything.”
White's previous career high of 36 points also came here in January 2021.
“But I didn't have any turnovers (that night) and (Monday), I had three,” White said, opening a window into his winning mentality.
— Likewise, DeMar DeRozan attempted just one shot the entire first half before taking over late to try and cement the comeback victory. He scored 19 of his 33 points in the fourth, finishing 10-for-12 from the field and 11-for-12 from the line.
“It's just a feeling,” DeRozan said. “A lot of times, I'm either physically or mentally trying to collect data on how they're playing for us or trying to motivate the players. Or sometimes it's just letting myself go and going. I feel it immediately in some matches and some matches. “I need to ease up on The command. I only know myself. I knew at some point I was going to start it. “
White made sure to spread the credit behind him and above DeRozan.
“It was a team effort,” White said. “Ayo (Dosunmu) played really well. AC (Alex Caruso) made four steals. Julian (Phillips) came in, gave us some big minutes, had great offense, and got to the free throw line after a big time.” “The cut we got was a corner kick. Foch (Nikola Vucevic) with a late tip-in got the offensive rebound for AC. Drom (Andre Drummond) the way he was checking was unbelievable, which sent all the guards down. JC (Jevon Carter) also.
“So I don’t look at it as, ‘Man, me and Deebo are doing this and that.’ I look at it like we got a good, solid win over the team, and I’m proud of our team.”
— The Bulls' defense, which allowed two quarters of 35 or more points, failed when they surrendered 24 second-chance points. The feeling of uphill climbing took over the entire game. Seemingly every time the Bulls erased a significant deficit, they allowed an offensive rebound and chipped away at second-chance points. But it seemed that Saboni's mistake led to the activation of the defence, which made great saves late.
Sabonis missed his first six shots and didn't score until the 3:40 mark of the second but finished with 18 points and 19 rebounds to extend his double-double streak to 43 games. But Sabonis, who leads the NBA with 56 double-doubles, fouled out with 2:57 left in the game.
—For the third game in a row, Nikola Vucevic showed great frustration. He threw a towel on the bench as he walked off the court during a third-quarter timeout, minutes after being whistled for two fouls, including a transition foul. That came after he was ejected for a flagrant foul against Milwaukee and after Vucevic also slammed the bench out of frustration with a towel several times after a foul in the double-overtime win over Cleveland.
— The Bulls continued to display the volatile nature that defined their season. They surrendered a 17-1 run to close the first quarter, failed to make a field goal over the final 3:52 and finished the quarter with eight field goals and six turnovers. Alex Caruso missed all seven shots in the first quarter, including five 3-pointers. But they then opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run, including seven quick points from White, who hit his first three shots that included a dunk on Harrison Barnes.
— The Bulls extended the run to 22-5 heading into the second quarter, erasing a 14-point deficit to take the lead. Caruso was all over the place defensively, recording three steals in the period. White scored 13 points in this period. But the Kings finished the second half on an 8-0 run to take a seven-point lead into halftime. DeRozan took just one shot in the first half.
— De'Aaron Fox returned from a two-game absence due to a knee bruise to finish with 20 points and 10 assists. Ayo Dosunmu had the lion's share of the game, which is always tough. That didn't stop Dosunmu from scoring seven of the Bulls' first nine points without missing a beat and finishing with 20 points.
— Julian Phillips served as a sixth man in what became a revolving door role for the Bulls. Terry Taylor, Honoralbe Betim and Phillips have all served in this role recently. Phillips finished with six points and one rebound as the Bulls' bench offered very little. Phillips had a great fourth quarter, scoring all of his points.
— In fact, in an effort to thwart a potent offense that relied largely on perimeter scoring, Donovan mostly went small against the Kings. Phillips, Bittim and even Jevon Carter, in a rare stretch in the first quarter, came in ahead of Andre Drummond. The big double lineup of Drummond and Vucevic never appeared. Donovan used four guards or wings around one of the big men at all times.
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