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What we learned from Chicago's win over San Antonio

The Bulls showed great team effort versus the Spurs.

Stephen Beslic

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The Chicago Bulls squandered a double-digit lead but did just enough to beat the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, 120-116.

Here are a couple of takeaways from the Bulls’ hard-earned win.

Brilliant team effort

The Bulls’ starters were solid, and their bench was equally impressive in their fourth win in five games that hiked their record to 19-22. Nikola Vucevic tallied 24 points and 16 rebounds to lead the impressive showing of Chicago’s starting crew that saw all of them scoring double figures.

DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, Coby White netted 15 markers, Alex Caruso contributed 11 points, and Zach LaVine wound up with 10 points. The Bull also got a huge lift from their reserves, with Ayo Dosunmu firing 21 points on an impressive 8-of-9 shooting from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point distance.

Jevon Carter pitched in 14 points, anchored on four trifectas. Andre Drummond scored just seven points but hauled down 10 rebounds in an extra efficient 16 minutes of playing time.

Chicago finished with 31 assists, while San Antonio only had 26.

“I feel like we’re getting better,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I really do. I think we are playing stylistically how I’d like to see us play, how I think the game should be played. We’re sharing the ball. We’re trying to generate shots. We’re scoring more points.”

Bulls survived Jones’ exceptional game

The Spurs played without top rookie Victor Wembanyama, but they nearly completed a come-from-behind win behind the offensive explosion of Tre Jones. Jones erupted for a career-high 30 points. He shot 10-for-13 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range.

“Shots were open, and I took them and made them,” Jones said. “It wasn’t anything specific. They were playing off of me a lot. Obviously, they know I like to pass and get my teammates involved. So, I was just trying to take my shot when it was there, make them respect it and play out of that. My shot was feeling good and going in, so that’s always a good feeling.”

San Antonio was able to overhaul an 18-point first-half half-deficit and led by as many as eight in the final quarter. The Spurs couldn’t complete the comeback as Jones didn’t get enough support from his teammates. Aside from Jones, Jeremy Sochan was the only other San Antonio starter to score in double figures with 11 as the Spurs fell to 7-31 in the season.

Billy Donovan believes Coby White can be an All-Star in the NBA: "I think he's got that kind of ability"

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Stephen Beslic
STEPHEN BESLIC

Stephen Beslic is a writer on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Stephen played basketball from the age of 10 and graduated from Faculty of Economic and Business in Zagreb, Croatia, majoring in Marketing.

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