It was more than just two wins at the end of November and a flip of the calendar into December.
They were victories with substance.
Of course the Bucks are still trying to find their way with the addition of Damian Lillard, but they were a 13-win team when the Bulls beat them – growing pains and all. For Billy Donovan’s group to then follow that up with a six-point win over a New Orleans team that just made it to the semifinal round of the In-Season Tournament?
Definitely a foothold to help climb out of for an embarrassing hole the Bulls dug for themselves.
But as always with this group, the ongoing question will be is it sustainable?
“We’ve been saying that the past few seasons,” big man Nikola Vucevic said recently. “It seems like when we get one thing going or fixed, something else shows up. We’ve shown we can play a certain way for a game or two, but we have to be more consistent.’’
That needs to start on the defensive end.
Heading into Wednesday night’s game with Charlotte, the Bulls were sitting 22nd in defensive efficiency. There’s a reason for the 7-14 record.
If Donovan can get that side of the ball closer to the fifth overall ranking they finished with last season, the coach feels that would go a long way in getting the Bulls to play better basketball on both ends.
They are built to cause disruption in the opposing team’s backcourt, ideally then scoring in transition.
And while he wouldn’t admit to dummying down the defense the last few weeks in order for there to be less lapses, Donovan said it has fallen on him and the rest of the staff to be present in reminding the players of coverages on a more constant basis.
“I think one of the better things we can be better as a staff is a lot of times our adjustments have been in pick-and-roll coverages and in matchups – the changing on the fly in the course of the game,’’ Donovan said. “It’s not like we’ve just come up with a new coverage in the course of the game, but it’s like, ‘OK we’ve got blitz pick-and-roll, we’ve got pick-and-roll when we’re a little bit back, we’ve got pick-and-roll where we’re at the level of the screen, and switching.’
“During the course of the game, we’ve got to be better helping the five guys (know the change in coverages). That’s been part of the miscommunication too. We’ve got to make sure, ‘Guys, listen, this is what we’re in right now.’ Those are things we can do as a staff to try to help more.”
What else helps? Having a healthy Alex Caruso.
After missing the Pelicans win with a sore toe, the schedule has helped Caruso out immensely. With three off days leading into the game with Charlotte – a game he’s expected to play in – another off day on Thursday, and a Friday game in San Antonio, Caruso will then have Saturday and Sunday to recover.
Some much needed down-time for the first-team all-defender from last season, who went through the non-contact portion of Tuesday’s practice.
What Donovan still needs to figure out with Caruso, however, is his minutes. When he starts the wing defender, it gets tricky juggling his second stint of the game while still keeping his total minutes in the 24-to-28-minute area.
That’s why Caruso is better off coming off the bench, allowing Donovan to control his minutes easier so that Caruso is available to close games.
Either way, the Bulls need to defend with a higher intensity if they want to keep the winning streak going.
“It starts there for us,” guard Coby White said of the defense. “If we communicate and pay attention to the details we can be really good, but we’ve got to get on the same page.”
