https://youtu.be/6YRonei8n4M
It’s games like this that make you go “man, the backcourt duo of Coby White and Zach LaVine will be running the East in as few as two years.” White had an efficient thirty points, LaVine had an even more efficient 46, the rest of the Bulls were thriving, and the result was a sound team victory. There might not have been bottles of champagne popping in the locker room, but there were at least some really solid high-fives and butt slaps. And, perhaps, some bottles of hot sauce.
Then there are games like last game, a loss to the lowly Wizards, that make you go “man, the Bulls need to get some more talent on that roster if they’re ever going to make the playoffs again.” In that one, White played thirty minutes, but only scored eight points on 3-of-10 shooting. LaVine looked good, dropping 35, but he couldn’t carry the team by himself. He needed White, or somebody else, to step up, and nobody did. The mood in that postgame locker room was probably one of angst, depression, and overwhelming desire for classic Chicago-style fast food like gyros, Italian beefs, fried chicken wings (the whole kind), weird cheesesteaks with mayo on them, and bargain-brand soda in cans. Definitely no butt slaps. Not even butt taps. The only hot sauce present was the kind you put on chicken wings.
So, the jury’s still out on the long-term viability of the Zacoby duo. In the end, their games might not complement each other as much as we want. But the Bulls weren’t going to do anything this season anyway, so we’re playing the “wait and see” game, and while we do that, I’m going to go figure out where Lauri Markkanen got off to, because he definitely wasn’t on the court at any point in this game as far as I could tell.