The biggest roar at the United Center on Saturday night came during a timeout when Benny the Bull sank a backward, over-the-shoulder, half-court shot with a miniature basketball.
Many in the announced crowd of 19,449 left by the middle of the fourth quarter of the Chicago Bulls’ 142-131 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, satisfied they at least got to watch strong showings by the franchise’s two most important pieces: Benny and rookie Matas Buzelis.
The rest of the night took a back seat to Benny’s familiar antics, which also featured him getting knocked down by a turkey, and Buzelis’ sudden emergence in the wake of Patrick Williams’ latest foot injury.
The 20-year-old rookie scored a career-high 14 points, all in the first half, and showed he won’t back down to anyone after sinking a 3-pointer in front of the Grizzlies bench. He then turned to Grizzlies star Ja Morant, who was on his feet with his mouth flapping despite being sidelined again with an injury.
“Ja said like, ‘It’s off,’ or something,” Buzelis told reporters after the game.
“Hell, no,” Buzelis said on the court, perhaps to himself. Either way, he turned his head toward Morant as the ball went through the hoop.
“I just looked at him,” Buzelis said later. “I didn’t really say anything.”
Probably best not to say anything knowing Morant’s history.
Buzelis’ response to Morant was the kind of swagger that endears him to Bulls fans, similar to the way Cubs rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong became a favorite on the North Side this year. Both young players know their value to the team.
“His confidence is always high — he don’t lack in confidence,” Coby White said with a laugh as Buzelis listened from his locker a few feet away. “That’s why I said it’s no surprise. The way he thinks, the way he plays, he’s going to do that every night.
“That’s how he approaches every game. I don’t think confidence is ever going to be a problem in his career.”
Buzelis, wearing big-framed glasses afterward and looking like an Italian poet from the 13th century, said he was oblivious to the reaction of Bulls fans, who paid closer attention to the game when the ball was in his hands, waiting to see what he’d do next.
“I’m actually not aware,” Buzelis said. “I’m locked into the game.”
While Buzelis’ progress will be something to watch this season, the Bulls (7-11) are turning into a team that’s both irresistible and unfathomable, sometimes in the same half. They shot 50.5% Saturday after a 57% shooting performance in Friday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks, but they never led against the Grizzlies and gave up 45 points in the third quarter, a recurring theme of late.
They rank seventh in the NBA in scoring through Saturday at 117.4 points per game, thanks to a running offense and a huge increase in 3-point shooting. On the flip side, they are rock bottom defensively, allowing 123.9 points per game on 49% shooting — dead last in both categories.
The Bulls have given up 135 or more points in four of their last 10 games. They did that twice all of last season, allowing 140 to the Golden State Warriors and 141 to the Los Angeles Lakers, both losses.
Something has to change, and coach Billy Donovan said it could be fixable without major personnel changes.
“Defense is a talent, no different than offense in my opinion,” he said. “There are guys that are really, really talented defensively, and we’re going to have to find a way to do it collectively. There are moments of truth where you are going to be on an island, you are going to be by yourself, you are going to have to make the other guy make a couple different moves.
“But when it’s a straight-line drive, it’s really, really hard to provide help. We’ve got to work at it. We’ve got to try to get better. I think we’re better than what we showed tonight, but we’re going to have to be one of those teams that cuts out the margin of error completely. We cannot not block out. We cannot not get into our right spots.
“There were times last year like, ‘Oh, my God, this is bad,’ and (Alex) Caruso fixes it. We don’t have that. I’m not saying we’ve got to be perfect, but we’ve got to eliminate the margins a little bit. Our guys are trying and they’re great guys. They know it’s something we need to get better at. The game happens fast, and we’ve just got to be able to help each other a little bit more.”
White believes the Bulls are still in an adjustment period with the new, faster-paced offense and isn’t worried about the opponents’ high point totals.
“It’s just a process, man,” he said. “Sometimes you’ve got to give, but you can’t give 140. But we do play at a frantic, high pace, so sometimes that can bleed over defensively because you’re trying to play so fast.
“So we’re staying positive. I have no frustration over it. We’ve still got 60-something more games. We’ve still got a long way to go. The season is all about just continuing to get better and build winning habits.”
White said the opponents’ high scoring average isn’t a problem limited to the Bulls.
“Look at all the fast-paced teams that probably give up a good amount of points,” he said. “This is an adjustment period for us. The last three, four years we’ve played at a really slow pace, so the defense wasn’t as bad because there were (fewer) possessions, slower pace, playing against a half-court the majority of the time. Now it’s a lot more transitions, a lot more possessions up and down.”
The Warriors, Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder beg to differ. You can have a high-octane offense and still play strong defense. But this is a new philosophy for the Bulls, so perhaps patience is needed.
Whether Bulls fans have that kind of patience is the X factor. With Chicago Sports Network still lacking a carriage deal with Comcast and some streamers, thousands of fans have tuned out a product they can’t easily watch.
If Benny the Bull hits a backward, over-the-shoulder, half-court shot at a game most fans aren’t watching, does it still count?
