The Chicago Bulls officially are rolling after picking up their third consecutive victory without Zach LaVine, beating the Charlotte Hornets 111-100 on Wednesday at the United Center.
The Bulls are 3-1 without LaVine as he prepares to sit out an additional three to four weeks with a right foot injury. In his absence, the young core of the roster has combined with veterans DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic to pick up the slack — and potentially turn the season around.
Here are four takeaways from the win.
1. Coby White broke a franchise record.
In the midst of his most consistent shooting streak as an NBA player, White notched his name in the franchise history books with his ninth consecutive game with at least three 3-pointers. He entered the game tied with Lauri Markkanen for the longest streak.
White hit his first 3 within the opening two minutes. He had a quieter night behind the arc than Saturday, when he made eight 3-pointers. But his third and final 3 in the third quarter was enough to stretch his streak.
After a slightly slow start to the season, White hasn’t shot below 36.4% behind the arc for the last nine games. He ranks eighth in the league in 3-pointers made (63), only five behind third-place Tyrese Haliburton.
“The coaching staff challenged me. They said I was passing up a lot of shots,” White said. “As a player, you always want to hear that your coaches want you to shoot the ball more.”
2. The offense struggled to produce in the first half despite a size advantage.
This wasn’t the prettiest win for the Bulls, who had an outsized opportunity on offense. The Hornets are last in the league with a 121.4 defensive rating and were missing top rim protector Mark Williams, who sat out with a lower back bruise.
The Bulls didn’t get into a hole, but the first half was sluggish and sloppy. They coughed up 10 turnovers and took only a four-point lead into the locker room. They had nine offensive rebounds in the first half — but three came on the same possession when Andre Drummond rebounded three of his own misses — and were outscored 7-6 in second-chance points.
The Bulls actually shot worse from 2-point range (11 of 28) than 3-point range (7 of 16) in the first half and were outscored 26-16 in the paint.
3. The starting five powered a third-quarter turnaround.
It took just one strong quarter for the Bulls to right the ship. They outscored the Hornets 35-20 in the third, building a 19-point lead as they shot 12-for-21 from the field and made all three of their 3-point attempts.
White, DeRozan and Vucevic combined for 35 points in the quarter as the starting unit dominated offensively. The bulk of the Hornets offense in the third came from 3-point range — where they struggled all night, finishing 10 of 37 — as the Bulls limited opportunities in the paint.
The Hornets came back in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to eight with 4:18 to play on the strength of a 13-2 run. But the Bulls had built enough of a cushion in the third to withstand the run and secure their third straight win.
4. Julian Phillips and Dalen Terry continue to earn early stints
Focusing on young talent has been a key to the last three games without LaVine — and that includes rookie Julian Phillips and second-year pro Dalen Terry, both of whom earned first-half playing time Wednesday.
Phillips has rotated into six of the last eight games as coach Billy Donovan prioritizes the 19-year-old second-round pick’s development. Terry has been utilized slightly less, but Donovan has taken advantage of the shorter rotations to give him valuable minutes after the Bulls struggled to find playing time for Terry as a rookie in either the NBA or with the G League’s Windy City Bulls.
Neither stint was long. Terry didn’t register a single stat in his three first-half minutes, while Phillips went 1-for-2 from the field and logged an assist during a four-minute run in the first half, then subbed in for two minutes in the second half.
But the opportunity to give both players consistent court time is another silver lining of the rotational flexibility LaVine’s absence has created.
