Following a brutal start to the season, the Chicago Bulls have soared back into the Play-In Tournament race. Coby White and DeMar DeRozan have led the way, with some rebounding help from Andre Drummond along the way. However, the interesting part is that it’s all been without Zach LaVine.
LaVine went down with a foot issue on November 28 and just came back this past Friday against the Charlotte Hornets. In his absence, the Bulls seriously picked up the pace. While LaVine’s absence may not be directly correlated to Chicago’s extended success, it’s still something to note. However, LaVine couldn’t be more thrilled.
He recently spoke about how excited he is for the Bulls to finally see the fruit of their preseason labor.
“We caught a great rhythm in December doing the same thing that we were working on in training camp,” LaVine said via Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune. “It was great to see it actually start coming in and clicking.”
In his return to action against the Hornets on Friday, LaVine came off the bench for the Bulls. He put up 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists while shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 1-of-5 from behind the three-point line.
Chicago picked up a win over Charlotte, who is sitting toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and they get to take on the Hornets again on Monday night.
However, their first real test with LaVine back won’t be until Wednesday, when they take on the new-look Houston Rockets.
