Bulls look to pick up the pace on offense, continue 2-game winning streak
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Bulls will be without guard Zach LaVine for when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
But the team is expected to have guard Alex Caruso back after he left Saturday's game with a nagging toe injury. CBS 2's Matt Zahn had the latest on a team trying to ride what's been a long-awaited wave.
Pace and energy were the buzzwords at Bulls practice this week after ranking last in the league in pace, according to NBA Advanced Stats.
The Bulls have picked it up the last two games, winning two straight without the still-injured LaVine.
"Hopefully, we've figured out that playing at a slower pace is just hard to play for 48 minutes," said Bulls center Nikola Vucevic. "It gives teams a chance to set up their defense. It makes us much more predictable, easier to guard."
Head coach Billy Donovan added, "I've said this before: it's not so much we gotta be flying up the floor on every single miss and make, but we do need to try to flatten out the defense and get the ball ahead of the defense. The last two games, we've done a good job of that, but we've got to be able to do that consistently."
Point guard Coby White seems to have benefitted from the more up-tempo play, putting together probably the best back-to-back performances of his young career.
"I think he's becoming more comfortable in being that point guard running the team," Vucevic said. "Especially last game. He was much more aggressive, much more assertive with his decision."
It might be surprising to think Vucevic would fit in as well with the Bulls playing at a faster pace, but he said he likes it and can use his speed against some more physical big men. He had a season-high 29 points against the Milwaukee Bucks last week.