The Chicago Bulls are a win away from getting back into the NBA Playoffs. They dismantled Trae Young and his Atlanta Hawks in every facet of the game imaginable. But, it came with a very hefty cost. Alex Caruso went down after his foot collided with Andre Drummond’s and it looks like things have turned for the worst.
Alex Caruso has a significant right foot sprain, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. This puts the Bulls guard’s availability against the Miami Heat in question as they try to notch the eighth seed in the NBA Playoffs.
Alex Caruso was still able to deliver despite not being able to play the whole game against the Hawks. He saw the court for 17 minutes and gave the Bulls six points. His offensive arsenal also allowed him to find the passing lane and open man twice which led to two assists. This performance was then rounded out by his two rebounds before having to exit the game.
Thankfully, the Bulls had great guards that were able to step up and fill in for his production. Coby White erupted by knocking down 15 out of his 21 field goal attempts and going nine for 10 on the free throw line for 42 points. Number zero also dished out six dimes and ripped nine rebounds out of the air.
DeMar DeRozan also put up big numbers such that they could get closer to notch a spot in the NBA Playoffs. The veteran did not want to leave the court as he played for 44 minutes. This netted the Bulls 22 points along with nine assists and six rebounds. Nikola Vucevic rounds out the leaders for the Bulls. The big man got a monster double-double with 24 points and 12 boards.
Next up, they will have to take advantage of a Heat team that has been on a slump all season long.
Bulls send the Hawks packing
One would think that the team with four 20-point scorers would have won. But, that was simply not the case in this game. The Hawks suffered from a lot of deficiencies and inefficiencies which led to their downfall. One of the biggest issues was that they could not find any sort of rhythm on offense.
The Trae Young-led squad only managed to knock down 29.7% of their three-pointers despite chucking up 37 attempts. This was unfortunate because they were eating punches that they could not throw back. The Bulls managed to record a highly efficient 42.3% three-point percentage to torch their opponents from outside. Whenever the Hawks did decide to score on the inside, a rim protector was there to prevent the shot from going through. When the game ended, the Bulls notched eight blocks
The rebounding battle was not at all particularly close because the Bulls nabbed 47 boards while Trae Young’s Hawks got a meager 34 of them. Points in the paint were also a big determinant in this Bulls win. No one was there to prevent the Bulls from getting easy access to the driving and passing lanes which led to 72 points inside.
Source link