Chicago Bulls: Young stars lead 22-point comeback win over Spurs
Coming off a rough opener to start off summer league play, the Chicago Bulls completely flipped the script on the San Antonio Spurs in their second game en route to a tight 92-89 victory. However, this was no ordinary victory for the Chicago Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls young players continued to show out in their win over the Spurs.
Many of the standout players from the opener continued to build on their great starts in their second game. Patrick Williams dropped 30 and what stood out to me was his commitment to continue shooting despite his slow start. Marko Simonovic was 5-5 from the field in the first half and once again displayed his toughness in the interior.
However, when the Spurs closed the gap on Chicago at the end of the fourth quarter, there were a few contested shots I would have liked to see Simonovic finish. He’s young and his play so far has inspired enough confidence in me to believe that he will keep getting stronger and more consistent finishing shots in the paint.
The rookie, Ayo Dosunmu also had a great second game against San Antonio. One of the things I said Ayo needed to demonstrate to contest Coby White‘s role on the team would be to play tenacious defense. His four steals in Tuesday’s game are early, positive signs that he could be a great defender in the Chicago Bull’s backcourt this season if he continues to develop.
Furthermore, Ayo’s communication on defense is another aspect of his game that jumped out at me in his performance versus the spurs. Patrick Williams noted that Ayo has already become one of the more vocal leaders on the squad. This was definitely backed up by Ayo’s mic ‘d-up audio as he was constantly engaged on defense by constantly communicating with his teammates to support them on defense.
However, the best thing about this game is that the Bulls bounced back quickly after they blew a 17 point lead just the day before. They came out flat, went down early, but fought back and came back against San Antonio.
The Chicago Bulls overcame a 22 point deficit to beat the Spurs.
Furthermore, when the game was close down the stretch, I saw a much better offense that had constant motion leading to easy baskets. Devon Dotson, especially, despite his subpar game to that point, had a beautiful pass to a cutting Patrick Williams for a layup that iced the game for the Chicago Bulls.
I realize that this is only summer league and many of these players will max out as rotation and depth players on the bench, but to truly compete with the likes of Milwaukee and Brooklyn in the conference, the Chicago Bulls will need an “all hands on deck” effort. This is what makes this year’s summer league the most exciting one (for the Chicago Bulls) in ages and so far, the team’s young talent is giving us plenty to be excited for once the regular season gets underway.