IMAGE COURTESY OF NBA.COM
I am going to try and do these for every single game this season, but we will see how long that holds up.
Either way, it feels good to have these boys back. Hell of a win to start the season in Miami. Bulls. I will just start by saying Demar friction' DeRozan. This man is a cold-blooded killer and deserves all the praise he gets.
The Chicago Bulls started their season by beating the Miami Heat 116-108. Good performances across the board. Lots of guys stood out today, and it is a small sample size to improve on going forward. It is especially encouraging since Zach Lavine did not play tonight.
DeRozan was the clear and obvious MVP of the game tonight. When he is in there he is just making such a huge difference for that offense and it shows. It stinks that the offense stalls when DeRozan is not out there, but hopefully that will change as we move forward.
Derozan finished with 37 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists. He was spreading the ball out as much as he could while still taking over when he needed to.
The other guy that deserves a huge star for tonight is Ayo Dosunmu. Oh boy does he look good. He looks even more steady on his feet when he is on defense He is also clearly not afraid to take some shots this year which will be huge going forward. Dosunmu is going to handle the point guard capabilities just find til Lonzo Ball comes back.
Also, a huge shoutout to the news guys. Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic made an immediate impact as soon as they stepped on the floor. Dragic was draining every three including circus shots. Dragic finished 12 points going 4-5 from three point range.
Drummond just brings so much more energy from the backup center position that we did not have at all last year. He was grabbing rebounds on offense and defense. He had 9 points to go along with 5 rebounds, but the energy on defense and crashing the offensive glass showed.
Alex Caruso and Javonte Green continue to be the same players we saw last year. They are gnats on defense and bring so much energy to the floor that is lacking when they are not on the floor. Caruso continues to be a pest in any passing lane and Green continues to try and hit the homer run play on offense.
Finally, Nikola Vucevic played a lot more aggressively than what we have seen in the past. Especially on the boards. He was crashing the boards and managed to finish with 17 total rebounds, five of them being offensive. Need to see more of that going forward.
When it comes to Patrick Williams and Coby White, we need to see more of them before we start coming to conclusions. Williams had a tough game for the most part, but had a couple of nice drives and plays on defense. For White, he just needs to make some of the open shots, and stay away from bonehead plays. Small sample size, but we need to see better from both of them.
Either way, incredible win to go into Miami and win against a really good team without Lavine. A lot of things can definitely be cleaned up, but there is room for improvement.
Feels so good for Bulls basketball to be back. An i
ncredible start to the season. 1-0. Let's keep it going boys.
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