Bulls @ Jazz. 8 PM CT

[jordanwilliams6]

That bench group with Ayo as the only starter was bad. Really bad. I assume Billy's plan was to give the other starters some rest, since we had a 10+ point lead. Well it backfired. That bench group gave Utah confidence which meant no rest for Coby and Demar.

A better coach, like Phil, would have ran the score up to 20 before trying that stunt.

We really don’t have any options. People complain about Coby & Demar playing too many minutes and also complain about the lack of scoring off the bench.

The options simply aren’t there. Missing 4 rotations player means you’re always going to end up with big holes in your rotation.

[MissileMike]

I wouldn't even call what Collins did a choke- his hands were on the collar, not around the neck. More egregious was his hook and trip on Caruso during that final play.

[LateNight]

It was nice seeing how fast Drum went after collins

[DuckIII]

It was nice seeing how fast Drum went after collins

I came in here to write the same thing. Collins was lucky there was a sea of humanity between him and Drum when Drum saw him go at Flemming.

That wasn’t fake hold me back stuff. Drummond just couldn’t get to him.

[RSP83]

It was nice seeing how fast Drum went after collins

Just rewatch the clip. Man Drum was fast.

[Muzbar]

It was nice seeing how fast Drum went after collins

I came in here to write the same thing. Collins was lucky there was a sea of humanity between him and Drum when Drum saw him go at Flemming.

That wasn’t fake hold me back stuff. Drummond just couldn’t get to him.

He even moved that sea of humanity a bit, he's a strong dude.

[sco]

I won't call this a meaningless win just because Lauri and Kessler were out, but we tend to win games when our opponent doesn't have a meaningful shotblocker. We won without a bench. I'll also note that the boxscore didn't seem to match what I saw from Utah's 3pt shooting because I could swear they were shooting like 50% from 3.

Coby was on a heater. Good to see the 3's falling again. Must be the altitude.

Demar has been super clutch of late. He tends to struggle when opponents have a long athletic defender to put on him, but not so much in Utah.

Vuc had a bum slaying night. He isn't completely useless, but it's night and day with him against good vs. bad rim defense.

[DuckIII]

It was nice seeing how fast Drum went after collins

Just rewatch the clip. Man Drum was fast.

Pound for pound you won’t find many better pure athletes than Andre Drummond.

[DuckIII]

Also, Javon Carter had a nice little positive game tonight. Nothing special but did his job well.

[DuckIII]

This is a rare bad game for Ayo this year

Didn't he do the Tony Snell earlier this season ?

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

[drosestruts]

wow a lot of thoughts after what i had hoped would be an easy win - but nothing comes easy with this team so I should have known.

Obviously lots of talk about Collins - but i'll say, i wouldn't classify that as a choke. Shoulder push that slid close to the neck area, still an overreaction to what seemed like a mostly standard coach separating guys action (maybe he thought Flemming was a little extra aggressive in the separation?? I don't know, not sure if he was asked about it post game)

But I'm not even that annoyed by Collins - the guy who annoyed me was Colin Sexton. This man is incredibly annoying, his weird heavy breathing while sticking out his lower jaw thing while staring at people after rather normal baskets. Settle the f down. Also the whole thing started not because of Craig but because Sexton on a pretty basic "send this guy to the free throw line and stop the clock" foul, wound up and hit DeMar in the face and hit him across the arms extra hard.

It was a BS, over the top, unnecessary foul. You can even see Clarkson on the other side doing the standard light foul while looking at a ref to indicate he is intentionally fouling.

And after getting hit in the face and across the arms, and having to wait out a lengthy ref review, DeMar steps up to the line and knocks down both free throws. I love that guy.

That Utah crowd gets super loud - pretty impressive.

Coby vs Curry tonight in a 3-point shootout, would be quite something to see Coby out duel him, both are on a hot streak coming into the game.

Also while the reffing wasn't great in this game, I do think it was equally bad for both teams. If you can't call a good game, I guess atleast call a consistent game.

[Chi town]

Didn't he do the Tony Snell earlier this season ?

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

Loved the way Ayo played. Needs to keep taking those floaters. Keeps the defense honest.

He makes that 3 that went in and out and that layup on the break Caruso passed him that he lost in midair and we’d be talking about how great he played.

Really enjoying the developing chemistry with Coby and Ayo.

[HomoSapien]

Didn't he do the Tony Snell earlier this season ?

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

I don't think he played a "dumb" game or anything but it was on the poor end of the spectrum in relation to how he's been playing since Zach went down. Was cold, lost control of that ball for the layup near the end, missed a critical free-throw in the clutch. He did have 9 assists though, which says a lot. You want to see guys contribute when their shots not falling and he did that.

[Dominator83]

Didn't he do the Tony Snell earlier this season ?

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

2nd half he did nothing at all. 3 points, 1 assist, 2 turnovers. One of those turnovers he somehow did when it should have been a fast break dunk. Pretty close to a 2nd half Snell

[FriedRise]

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

2nd half he did nothing at all. 3 points, 1 assist, 2 turnovers. One of those turnovers he somehow did when it should have been a fast break dunk. Pretty close to a 2nd half Snell

He does tend to disappear as the game goes on. He's at his best when the game just started and teams are just figuring out what each other is doing. But that's also when DeMar and Coby tend to hang back too playing the facilitator role.

He's not the go-to guy yet in the clutch, but still super thrilled at the jump that Ayo made. After the season he just had AND how much better we got as a team after giving Ayo a much more reduced role, I kinda wrote him off as a 9th/10th guy. Kudos to him for turning it around because now we at least can play him starter minutes where he will contribute 10-15 points on 50/40/80 shooting with some rebounds, assists, and good defense. That's a solid starter IMO.

[MrSparkle]

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

2nd half he did nothing at all. 3 points, 1 assist, 2 turnovers. One of those turnovers he somehow did when it should have been a fast break dunk. Pretty close to a 2nd half Snell

He had a poor game, but 9 assists means he still contributed.

Overall, I think playing him, Coby and Caruso together just generally makes us so much smaller than the average NBA team... Demar slides to PF, Vuc to C... From what I understand, the "4th quarter defensive stats" look good for this combo, but in reality, I think we play down to competition and get bailed out by Demar. We definitively lose the glass, and have one of the lowest shot block rates in the league (no surprise though, 2 smallest players on the Bulls besides Jevon with all 4 blocks Caruso with 3, Coby with 1).

Anyway, I don't have a problem with a $6m kid, designated 5th option, having a poor scoring half... but Ayo does need to be a more consistent scorer to become a full-time starter.

Like Coby of each passing year, the observation I'm making with Ayo is that this season, he's having 1 clunker after every 1-2 good games. I'd say a good half of his games are mediocre, and the rest are either good or very good. Last season, a good half of his games were terrible, a quarter were mediocre, and the remaining were good. Arguably 2-3 "very good" games. His consistency is noticeably better, so we're on the right track.

[pylb]

Also, Javon Carter had a nice little positive game tonight. Nothing special but did his job well.

Yup, it was nice to finally see him take his shots (and make them).

[Dez]

Didn't he do the Tony Snell earlier this season ?

He didn't say only bad game.

Do you guys think he had a “bad game”? His shot wasn’t falling but other than that he played all other parts very well I thought.

Yes because he cost me money.

[Rose2Boozer]

It's great to see how improved ball handling unlocked Coby White's game.

[Rose2Boozer]

We need Drummond on the boards