For a half-second, Coby White thought about pushing his luck.
It was deep in the fourth quarter of a 138-110 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Chicago Bulls held an unshakable 31-point lead. White had knocked down 3-pointers on his last two trips down the court. There was nothing much to lose and plenty to gain as a crowd containing Bears star Caleb Williams and Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong rumbled excitedly for one more shot.
White pulled up in transition, tucking the ball toward his chin in a pantomime of his shot. But a heartbeat later, he thought better of the heat check, dumping the ball back to a trailing teammate and grinning as if sharing a joke with himself.
After barely shooting above 31% on 3s for most of the season, White has made 13 of 21 in the last two wins, a welcome relief for a player whose game is typically elevated behind the arc.
“It’s only been two games,” White said with a laugh. “But I just want to take it game by game and hopefully just continue to stack games, God willing. … I think any shooter would tell you there’s going to be ebbs and flows, but it always evens out at the end of the day.”
Although he didn’t stretch himself too far with that final shot, White still pushed himself to punctuate the win by hitting five of his six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. The Bulls tied a franchise record for 3s made in one game, sinking 25. Matas Buzelis, Ayo Dosunmu and Kevin Huerter added four each.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
1. One shining quarter.
The Bulls won the game by winning the second quarter.
Most of the game was relatively evenly matched. But that wasn’t true in the second, when the Bulls outscored the Clippers 45-19 in a 12-minute sprint that defined the rest of the game. Despite taking more shots than the Bulls, the Clippers went 9-for-26 in the quarter and missed all six of their 3-point attempts.
The Bulls, meanwhile, almost couldn’t miss when they put the ball on the floor. They missed only one shot inside the arc in the second — while also shooting 57.1% from 3-point range — as Dosunmu and Buzelis racked up points at the rim in transition. Eight players scored in the onslaught.
Few deficits are insurmountable in the modern NBA. But a 21-point halftime differential gave the Bulls enough breathing room for the second half. They nearly matched the Clippers in a 34-32 third quarter. On the second night of a back-to-back without Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles could do nothing to chip away at the lead before crumbling in the fourth.
2. Get to the rim.
The 3-pointers stood out, but balance was key in Tuesday’s win. The Bulls made only one 2-point basket in the first quarter, netting six 3-pointers.
But once they began to crack open channels from the wings to the rim, the game opened into a free-for-all of downhill movement. Nikola Vučević bounded past Ivica Zubac for a rare two-handed slam off the dribble. Buzelis threw down emphatic dunks in transition. The Bulls tallied 40 points at the rim.
Buzelis offered a portrait of ideal scoring balance, with half of his makes from 3-point range, the other half at the rim and no 2-point attempts outside the restricted area. That type of scoring is crucial to the identity of the Bulls, who rank second in the NBA in shot volume within the restricted area.
3. Josh Giddey nears a return.
The Bulls could return to their preferred lineup as soon as Thursday in Minnesota, as starting guard Josh Giddey prepares to return from a 10-game absence due to a hamstring strain.
Coach Billy Donovan said Giddey is “trending in the right direction” after practicing Sunday with Windy City and Tuesday with the Bulls. He is expected to travel with the team for Thursday’s game against the Timberwolves, although Donovan did not guarantee that Giddey would be available.
