3-pointers: Breaking down the Bulls’ victory

The Bulls improved to 21-12 with their home victory over the Bucks. Here are three observations.

Jimmy Butler is on a roll

Brilliant analysis, right?

What punctuated this performance is that Butler posted 32 points and a career-high-tying 10 assists while playing alongside Derrick Rose, who returned from missing three games following right hamstring and knee soreness. Their performance featured one of their more collaborative efforts as opposed to the “your-turn, my-turn” play into which the dynamic guards can sometimes fall.

Butler is showing such an improved awareness in pick-and-roll play and scoring off ball screens rather than the isolation-heavy plays in which he thrived last season. And Rose, after an initial infatuation with the 3-point shot, attacked and showed the explosiveness that defined his play in the three games before his injury.

Nikola Mirotic is stringing games together

That’s three straight games in which the second-year forward has scored in double figures. His shift to small forward will allow Bobby Portis to remain in the rotation even when Joakim Noah returns from his shoulder injury and has coincided with the Bulls’ recent offensive prowess.

The Bulls are getting better at recognizing mismatches offensively. And as long as Mirotic isn’t a complete mess defensively against small forwards, his presence at that position helps create mismatches at the offensive end.

“The team is playing well. That’s the most important,” Mirotic said. “The last couple games I was feeling a little bit better. I have a really important goal for me, to show that I can play the three, too, but once in a while I like to mix it too. Play a little three, play a little bit four, not just one position, but whatever they need me I will try and do my best.”

The Bucks don’t look the same as last season

Remember that competitive, first-round playoff series in which the Bucks flashed length and athleticism and defense and how that would foreshadow a divisional rival for years to come? Yeah. not so much. The Bucks look diffferent beyond the fact coach Jason Kidd isn’t on the sideline following hip surgery.

The addition of low-post scorer Greg Monroe was supposed to be the final piece for an offensively challenged team. But the Bucks seem to have lost their defensive identity, Jabari Parker has been slow to recover from his ACL surgery and the Bulls are the superior team for now.

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