The introductions were formally made less than 10 days ago, when Victor Wembanyama welcomed the Bulls to the Alamo with a 21-point, 20-rebound game.
On Thursday, the San Antonio rookie sensation found the Bulls far less accommodating in the rematch at the United Center.
Sure, the 7-foot-4, No. 1 overall pick was dealing with a bad ankle that forced him to miss Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee, but that wasn’t the only discomfort he was dealing with in the 114-95 Bulls win.
The defensive game plan was simple all night long: “Make (Wembanyama) feel you,” said Bulls forward Patrick Williams.
That meant leaning on him and getting under him as often as possible.
“There’s really only one way you can guard him, and that’s to get under him,” Williams said. “I think some of his rebounds, guys are blocking him out, and he’s still able to go over the top. Then there were times he got on the block, made one spin and he’s on the other side of the rim to dunk it. I think the only way you can really even try to guard him is make him uncomfortable, try and wear him down.”
Mission accomplished, as the Bulls (13-17) held the big man to just seven points, five assists and four rebounds on a night he shot 3-of-7 from the field and looked hampered with the bad wheel.
And they still have one more game with the Spurs (4-23) and Wembanyama thanks to the added meeting of the In-Season Tournament.
Either way, Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was still believing in all the hype surrounding the NBA’s next big thing.
“At that size it’s tricky because that’s what guys are going to do, play him physically, but I think he’s better than I thought he would be with that, for sure,” Vucevic said. “He’s stronger than I thought he would be. He’s got a pretty strong base for that size, which is hard at 7-4. He’s pretty stable, and he’s just able to turn around and just shoot over people.
“As he gets older and stronger, starts figuring out his body, I don’t think it’s going to be a big issue for him. Nobody has everything, and you can’t match his size and his length, so it’s definitely a tricky matchup.”
The way the Bulls have been playing the last 11 games – they are now 8-3 over that span – the only tricky matchup is the one they are throwing at opposing defenses.
Not that the Spurs were a defensive juggernaut, and it wasn’t even a good shooting night from long range (7-for-28), but it was a very familiar formula of sharing the ball, moving it quickly, and playing high-effort defense.
Six Bulls players finished in double figures, led by Coby White’s 22, which included 18 of those points coming in the second half.
“We’re all super unselfish guys,” White said of the turnaround from earlier in the season. “I feel the ball is moving at a high rate. I think the main things we are doing these last however many games is playing a lot faster, made baskets, getting the ball out quick and up the floor making us hard to guard. Coach has been since the beginning of the year trying to get us to play fast and now we are starting to.”
White wasn’t the only standout performance, either. Andre Drummond had one of his better games off the bench, not only using his size to mess with Wembanyama, but added 12 points, five steals and was a plus-17 in plus/minus.
“He was a presence,” coach Billy Donovan said of Drummond’s night. “I thought we did a nice job finding him when he was open, and I thought his rebounding and cleaning up allowed us to get out in transition quite a bit.”
