Bulls coach Billy Donovan found himself in an uncomfortable place Friday night: up by double digits late against the Hawks with his starters still on the floor, trying to run up the score like a college football coach trying to impress poll voters with a lopsided victory.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the NBA Cup for you.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a game-high 26 points from guard Zach LaVine, the Bulls ended their winless streak in the league\u2019s in-season tournament, beating the Hawks 136-122 at the United Center to improve to 1-1 in pool play. Point differential is one of the tournament tiebreakers, which is why Donovan had his starters in late. Shoot first, answer questions later.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a format he enjoys.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a different way to do it,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve only got these four games, there\u2019s got to be some sort of separation if these teams have the same record. But I don\u2019t love that part of it, personally. It is what it is, those are the rules, and we\u2019ve just got to play with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bulls (7-10) weren\u2019t used to being on the dominant side of the situation, having lost all four pool-play games last season in the inaugural tournament and dropping their Cup opener in Cleveland last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little different,\u201d rookie forward Matas Buzelis said of the format. \u201cBut for me, I care about the win. We got that done, and that\u2019s all I cared about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buzelis was more involved than he has been, scoring nine points in 20 minutes of playing time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensively, [I] could have been better,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo travels, so I\u2019ve got to be better on that. I\u2019m a learner. I\u2019m always going to learn, but offensively, I didn\u2019t think I was that good.\u201d<\/p>\n
His coach thought differently, which is part of why Buzelis got the minutes. But it wasn\u2019t the only reason. With Patrick Williams (inflamed left foot) out for a second straight game, others were needed to step up. Donovan started Ayo Dosunmu in Williams\u2019 place rather than Torrey Craig for matchup purposes. Dosunmu set a tone right from the opening tip, scoring seven points in the first quarter with two assists and a steal.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t come as much of a surprise. Dosunmu usually has been good when thrown into a starting role out of the rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his decision-making has steadily improved the last two years,\u201d Donovan said of Dosunmu, whose outside shooting numbers remain lower than expected. \u201cThe shooting part, I think, will be fine. He\u2019s taken the right [shots]. He hasn\u2019t shot the ball well, but I think he\u2019s the one guy on our team, especially in transition, [who] can get to the rim, and that\u2019s an area that we\u2019ve struggled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis decision-making and the pressure he can put on the defense, that\u2019s helped. I think he\u2019s done a good job in terms of setting the pace for us. He\u2019s able to play fast and move it up the floor really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
That continued most of the night for Dosunmu, especially late in the third quarter. With the Bulls up by 14 in the final seconds of the quarter, Dosunmu had a steal that led to a three-pointer by guard Coby White. He then made a layup that finished off a 41-point third quarter for the Bulls.<\/p>\n
The Bulls\u2019 next Cup game is Tuesday night against the Wizards on the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It took almost two seasons, but the Bulls finally won an in-season tournament game, and they did so in impressive fashion. While coach Billy Donovan doesn’t love the format, he did all he could to run up the point differential late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n