And soon after, led by White’s career-high 37 points with five three-pointers, the Bulls took off with a virtual nine count, trailing by 22 points late in the third quarter to overtake the Sacramento Kings for instinctive control. 113-109 victory to kick off this four-game Western Conference trip.
With their third comeback this season from a deficit of at least 20 points, these breathtaking Bulls reached 29-32. They also got 33 points from DeMar DeRozan, including a near-perfect 19 in the fourth quarter on his seven field goal attempts.
But then it was White who went around the corner and down the stretch after another Kings turnover in another of their epic collapses. They have blown 20-point leads several times this season. And nothing could stop White, who finished a drive from the right wing to eventually tie the score at 109 with 1:13 left in regulation.
That would follow one of three Kings turnovers in a minute against a relentless and slick Bulls defense that repeatedly attacked Kings drivers in the lane, a Bulls specialty. Trey Lyles committed the next one seconds later by passing directly to an unsuspecting DeRozan. He got the ball and the Kings and former defensive guru Mike Brown finally came up with the idea to trap DeRozan, who passed it to Nikola Vučević. The ball got to White, who missed a three. But Vučević returned the ball to Alex Caruso, who shot at White. He passed to Ayo Dosunmu, who quickly backed away.
White gathered in the most errant pass near midcourt just before it became a turnover and came down the lane, hitting and crossing Lyles for a 111-109 Bulls lead with 47 .6 seconds left. De’Aaron Fox then rejected the inside pass after a timeout, leaving DeRozan with two decisive free throws for the Bulls’ most improbable victory.
“We’re like an episode of Dateline or something,” said DeRozan, who tortured Kings sophomore Keegan Murray throughout that fourth quarter with fakes, fakes and finishes. . “It’s a crazy thing. We kind of savor those moments and we take them to another level.
White sure did after his toughest stretch of games since saving the Bulls’ season after a 5-14 start.
With injuries — Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig remained out, although Donovan said Craig was close to returning — White took on a larger role and entered serious competition for most improved player of the NBA averaging over 22 points per game through December and January. But among the league leaders in minutes played, White came out of the All-Star break colder than cold, averaging 16.4 points on 24 percent three-point shooting. White had shot better than 50 percent in a game just once in the last nine games before Monday, and half of his games were under 20 points during that stretch.
But old/new Coby was back to put down the Kings, scoring 13 points in the second quarter after the Kings went on a 17-1 run in the first for a 36-22 lead, then 13 more in the third quarter to be practically alone. held off the Kings as they led 89-67 with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
The Bulls had little answer for Kings center Domantas Sabonis with 18 points and 21 rebounds as the Kings dominated on rebounds 51-32. Sabonis and Fox dismantled the Bulls with their pick and roll. Sabonis finished with slam dunks four times in that third quarter to take a huge lead.
The Kings had a 24-12 advantage in second-chance points, but the Bulls’ relentlessness caused 18 turnovers for 24 points (the Bulls had four turnovers in the final three quarters). Caruso snagged four steals to tie the playing field, just enough to give the Bulls the final chance that was aided by Sabonis’ sixth foul with about three minutes remaining. The Bulls then closed the game 9-1 and with an overall score of 22-7.
But it was White who was the most majestic.
In perhaps the crucial run before the fourth quarter, White after Sacramento was probably thinking of a blowout and a feast for the Kings, made a three and converted a pair of scores to slow the Kings turnover and give a little light and hope for the Bulls, trailing 91-77 before the fourth quarter.
“Coby obviously had an incredible game and DeMar in the second half made a lot of shots and baskets at the right time, and AC’s defense was excellent,” praised Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “The guys just wanted to fight and compete, and I give them a lot of credit because there were several points in the game that we had to respond to. Then obviously early in that third quarter they jumped on us and we had to fix some things coverage-wise and the guys responded well. We had situations where this group continued to fight, which I respect.
“Coby is going to fight, he’s going to do that,” Donovan admitted. “He is very competitive. Coby made some great drives to the basket, some key threes. The only play got this three-point play (after the Bulls were down 108-102 with 3:05 left just before Sabonis’ fatal sixth against White). He made a lot of big plays. You can’t expect DeMar to carry it all the time, and he (DeRozan) certainly carried his weight in that second half. But I thought Coby was great in terms of being aggressive with the opportunities he had.
The Bulls also got another great offensively aggressive game from Dosunmu with 20 points, including nine in the first quarter, with the Bulls generally starting slow. Dosunmu also made a three-and-out with 4:36 left after another Kings error to bring the Bulls within 104-100. With the stick therefore in the hands of the Whites, if not the glory, at least if you listen to him.
“The character of the guys in this room,” White said of the Bulls’ tendencies to get off the court. “The things that a lot of these guys went through in their lives and how they fought to overcome them and how every challenge that came their way, they seemed to overcome them and get through that wall. The character of this play creates the resilience of this basketball team. I was just trying to let the game come to me. Don’t force it. Ayo really succeeded in this first quarter. He was really aggressive on the downhills, catching and shooting. He had done it. Ayo, I was just trying to make fun of him. Let him continue doing his thing.
Dosunmu quietly, which is how he approaches most things, did so recently with his fourth game of at least 20 points in the last eight while averaging over 40 minutes per game in the last six. Jimmy Butler would be proud. White is the Bulls’ most improved prospect, and he’s projected to be second in the betting sites’ latest odds. But almost as much could be made of Dosunmu, who is shooting over 40 percent from three for the season, 10 percentage points higher than last season and over 15 points per game since late January.
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In the on-court postgame interview with NBCSports Chicago. DeRozan rushed to hug White and Dosunmu, shouting, “My young ones!” My young people! My young people!
“When my opportunities presented themselves, I just wanted to take advantage of them,” White said. “I didn’t want to force anything. I just try to play in the flow of the offense. We would like to play up front, but at this stage of the season you can get wins, you have to get wins. I don’t care what he looks like. At the end of the day, if we win, that’s all that matters to us. Sometimes it’s ugly, sometimes not. Often for us it’s from behind, but we get there.
“It’s a great feeling,” White said of his production. “But it’s just one game. We had three more games on this road trip against three very good teams. So for us, be happy with this victory. We have to move on to the next one. We have to go out there, fight and compete again. I don’t really look at it as, “Oh, man, me and Deebo are doing this and that.” » I consider that we had a good and solid team victory. I am proud of our team.
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