They said it couldn’t be done, but the Bulls finally put on an enjoyable game in defeating the Raptors, 116-106, on Friday night.
Not only did the Bulls win, but coach Fred Hoiberg showed some interesting coaching moves with some creative new lineup combinations and his handling of Derrick Rose.
There was a lot that I liked from this game, so let’s just dive right into it:
Lineups
I’ve given Hoiberg considerable criticism in the past for his wonky lineups, but at least he’s trying different things and seeing what works.He inserted two totally off-the-wall lineups again in for the fourthquarter that were kind of fun and effective in short bursts.
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Ultra-stretch lineup
Hoiberg openedthe fourthquarter by sliding Mike Dunleavy to shooting guard. It resulted in an ultra-stretch lineup of Aaron Brooks, Dunleavy, Doug McDermott, Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio.
That lineup had both shooting and size. All five can hits 3-pointers (Felicio might not make them, but he has range)and aside from Brooks, they’re all6-foot-8 or taller. In a game where the Bulls gave up 11 offensive rebounds, that lineup did not allow Toronto to grab a single oneand generated three 3-point attempts in a little under five minutes.
Dunleavy as a stretch four
Hoiberg went back to a more traditional lineup for the middle of the fourth, then closed the game out by sliding Dunleavy in as a small-ball power forwardand pairing him with McDermott.
That’s another fun lineup that I like a lot. McDermott is capable of playing small ball power forward as well, so putting the two of them together allows the Bulls to at least keep a little bit of size in there at the small forward position and create great spacing at the same time.
McDermott and Dunleavy only played 20 minutes together last year under coach Tom Thibodeau, but they generated an insane 15 3-point attempts in that span.
In last night’s contest, Hoiberg cited the amount of space that McDermott created as a key to opening up driving lanes for others. By inserting Dunleavy with McDermott, the Bulls create even more room for Rose to operate. For example, look atthis bucket that Rose got in the last minute of the fourth quarter:
The Raptors are either late bringing help or bring no help at all on this Rose drive because they need to stay honest on the Bulls’ shooters. The Bulls put Dunleavy and McDermott in the corners to create maximum space, and the only help the Raptors can provide isin the form of weak reaching attempts or a late Jonas Valanciunas rotation that does littleto slow down Rose:
This is the future of the Bulls. Hoiberg experimented with Jimmy Butler at power forward in the game before he got hurt and he’s thrown McDermott in there as well.
TheBulls should beconcerned about losing both Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol in free agency, leaving a hole in the frontcourt. But is that really going to be a problem? Hoiberg has shown that he is more than willing to push the boundaries of small-ball lineups. With Noah and Nikola Mirotic out, he will continue to do so for the next stretch of games. It will be a fascinatingwrinkle to watch.
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Having Fun
The season has been a slog for Bulls fans and actual Bulls players. There’s been sporadic talk of locker room discord, and you can see the players actively yelling at each other during games. Taj Gibson recently said it hurts his heart to see the team play this way.
But the players are, by all accounts, nice people, which isn’t always the case with NBA teams. That’s why it’s enjoyablewhen fun stuff like this happens:
— Stephen Noh (@hungarianjordan) February 20, 2016
You can’t even see Aaron Brooks over Pau Gasol’s body. That’s pretty great.
Doug McDermott’s Quick Release
McDermott had a fantastic game, and part of the reason why was because he was able to hit some 3s with an incredibly quick release.
This isn’t the first time Doug has used that super-quick release. When he’s really in a jam, he’s capable of flicking the ball in at an absurd speed.
Doug showed that he can use that quick-releaseeven if he doesn’t catch in his shooting pocket. That’s a great weapon to have available.
Owning Toronto
The Bulls have won their last eightgames against Toronto. There’s something about that matchup that really hurts the Raptors.
The Bulls (28-26) are currentlythe eighthseed in the playoff race, while Toronto (35-18) is the second. This could very potentially be a playoff matchup in the first round. It would be a nightmare for Toronto, whichwasswept by the No. 5 seedWizards inthe first round of the playoffs last year. The Raptors have only made it past the first round once in seven playoff appearances and it would be a devastating blow to be knocked out again by a worse-seeded team.
Rose Better on end of Back to Back
Earlier this month, I detailed howRose’s game is heavilyaffected by the amount of rest he gets, especially off back-to-backs.
The back-to-back effect didn’t hamper Rose at all against the Raptors. Hehad a fantastic game, shooting 12-for-20 for an efficient 26 points.
The groundwork for that performance was set the previous night in Cleveland. Fred Hoiberg made a very smart decision by limiting Rose to a shade over 30 minutes in a game that wasn’t very close in the fourthquarter. That’s something Thibodeau probably would not have done, so kudos to Hoiberg for doing that. Even though Rose played 34:41 in this one, hedid not look overly fatigued in the fourthbecause Hoiberg again made a good decision to give him a big rest starting at the end of the third quarter. Rose’s late-game fatigue, which shows up in tired legs on offense,has been hampering him all season. It looks like Hoiberg may have found a solution.
