Last night, against an Orlando Magic team just one game worse in the standings, the Bulls came extremely close to blowing an 18-point 4th quarter lead and racking up another draft lottery ping pong ball.
The Magic actually took the lead, twice, in the final minutes of action, but Bobby Portis answered with a floater and 3 to tie the game at 101.
The game remained at that score until Zach Lavine stole an inbound pass and took it the length of the court for a dunk with 12.4 seconds left.
Lavine stepped to the free throw line 10 seconds later to seal the win with a pair of free throws. Earlier this season, especially without Kris Dunn, the Bulls don't hold on to win that game. But Lavine, especially against a team as bad and committed to the tank as the Magic, has the combination of athleticism and skill that gives the Bulls a legitimate go-to option down the stretch. Yes, for now maybe that's harmful, the Bulls future would be better off if they won 25 games this season instead of 32. In the big picture, though, unlike many other teams in the NBA that are tanking, the Bulls have 3 players under 25 years old that are too good to allow the Bulls to lose as often as we'd like.
The Finnish rookie shown above, Lavine, and Dunn have all exceeded expectations thus far. Maybe the Bulls will be drafting 7th instead of 1st this summer, but the way this upcoming draft class is shaking up, winning with three good, young players like the Bulls currently are might outweigh the #tank after all.
Loading comments...