3 Player Props for Bulls vs. Pistons (February 17, 2021) https://t.co/qtDCH3OEJk
What to Watch For
• Wendell Carter Jr. returned to the floor after an 11-game absence on Monday with one hell of a performance. The Bulls watched his minutes carefully, only allowing him 21 minutes of action, but the third-year big man finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds. He was pivotal in the team’s ability to slow down the Pacers electric frontcourt duo of Domnatas Sabonis and Myles Turner, and the team can only hope he continues to trend in the right direction tonight. I would expect to see him used even more on the offensive end in this particular matchup, as the Pistons have given up the 7th-most points in the paint this season
An Aggressive Second Half, The Rookie’s 4th Quarter, Thad Young’s Cursing, and Other Bulls Bullets
Before you read this, you might as well watch this:
Wake Up and Watch the Bulls Complete the NBA’s Biggest Comeback of the Yearhttps://t.co/iBMlU305QV
• I guess that’s one way to put it, Thad.
A lil shaky at first, but we pulled though together @chicagobulls! #NEVERQUIT ✊
• In my opinion, the Bulls first-half crumble at the hands of the second-to-worst team in the NBA was a little bit more than a “lil shaky.” The team, once again, came out flat despite the numerous encouraging signs they showed just two days prior in a victory over the 4th-place Indiana Pacers. The Pistons may not have been the more talented team, but they were the more physical and motivated one, and that left head coach Billy Donovan all kinds of bummed even in the wake of a comeback W: “I was disappointed in our team, to be honest with you, in the first half. Really disappointed,” D
• Cases for why Zach LaVine should not be an All-Star this season are becoming as convincing as, “my dad ate my homework” (
wait, is that not how it goes?). After last night’s explosive 46-point performance, LaVine became the first Bull since Michael Jordan to score 120 points in a 3-game span. His averages on the season increased to 28.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists on 51.8 shooting from the field and 42.5 percent shooting from behind the arc. The 25-year-old continues to prove he is nothing short of an elite offensive weapon – not only one of the best in the Eastern Conference but one of the best in the league. While folks can pick apart his defense, there is still no question that we’ve seen improved effort on that end of the court this season. And, let’s be real, we’re dealing with an offensive-minded league. If LaVine is putting up these numbers on that end of the floor, it should be worthy of recognition.
Over the last few games, The W Bros. have looked their age.
Coby White’s attempt to balance his scoring and distributing has become so difficult that he has struggled to succeed in either category. Patrick Williams, meanwhile, has played engaged on defense, but hesitant on offense. White and Williams currently hold the starting lineup’s lowest Player Efficiency Rating (PER) at 10.67 and 9.65, respectively. These numbers put White 251st in the NBA and Williams in 274th. Yeah … not great.
Note: PER takes a bunch of stats and squishes them together for an easily comparable number, but I caution against over-weighting this particular metric. Not only does it struggle to take into account defensive impact (which hurts a guy like Williams), but it can also shift quite a bit. In other words, we don’t want to use PER to make any rash decisions. Guys like Garrett Temple, Josh Richardson, Gary Harris, Bojan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield, and Cam Reddish are all worse than White, but I don�