Bulls 121, Magic 114: Buzelis shines as Bulls get back to .500

In the midst of another middling season, Matas Buzelis‘ performance offered something to believe in, as the Chicago Bulls beat the Orlando Magic 121-114 to move to 17-17 on the season.

A poor shooting first half (1-of-6) didn’t stop him from having one of the most impactful games of his young career. He got himself going by detonating the NBA’s dunk of the year front-runner on Jalen Suggs in transition for his first field goal of the game. 

He came into the second half with aggression, immediately hitting a three, and scoring two layups, one of an offensive rebound. This was the kind of diverse scoring night that inspires confidence in his ability to become an elite role player, if not a high-level starter. 

To evolve beyond that, Buzelis will need to develop his playmaking, which is why his night was even more encouraging. Buzelis set a new career-high with seven assists, showing off some transition passes that led to easy buckets. He also had a nice two-man game going with Nikola Vucevic (17 points, 10 rebounds) in pick-and-roll. 

In the end, Buzelis finished with 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 7-of-8 free throws, with nine rebounds, seven assists to only two turnovers and two blocks. He has been up and down this season, but has started to turn the corner of late with new opportunities as a result of Josh Giddey and Coby White missing time. This was as complete a game as he has played in his NBA career so far. If he can continue to put these types of games together on a consistent basis, the Bulls might have something special on their hands. 

Up next: Next on the docket is the Charlotte Hornets, the two teams’ third meeting this season. Both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back. 2-4 in their last two weeks, the Hornets have a -3.0 net rating, but have been solid on offense, 11th, but miserable defensively, 27th. Rookie standout Kon Knueppel suffered what appeared to be a severe ankle injury, but only ended up missing one game before returning to play on New Year’s Eve. 

Tune into the CHGO Bulls postgame live: 

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After what seemed like it could be a scary injury for White, he delivered some positive news to the media during the team’s Friday morning shootaround ahead of their game against the Magic.

“I got an MRI and it showed that basically it wasn’t like a re-strain,” White said. “So the MRI actually looked better than it did in the past, in November. So right now, it’s just getting it to calm down.”

That’s positive news for White, who has dealt with calf discomfort and tightness nagging him all season. In fact, he played in his first back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, before leaving seven minutes into Monday’s game against Minnesota. As a result, the Bulls will operate with caution and monitor him the rest of the season.

“I think the monitoring and treatment and stuff is going to be like the rest of the year, just because you don’t obviously want it to come back or get worse,” White said. “Maybe the treatment and constant recovery I did on it stopped it from being something worse than what it was the other night.”

With a tough stretch of games coming up ahead of the February 5 deadline, the Bulls need White to get back out there. 

Same for Giddey, who left in the second half of Monday’s loss with a left hamstring strain. The Bulls will be ultra cautious with his recovery despite this being the first instance of a soft tissue strain compared to White, who has been dealing with the calf since August.

“You can start to feel better very quickly, but it doesn’t mean it is better,” Giddey said. “The symptoms go away and you feel like you could do everything, but that’s kind of when you’re at risk of restraining it. So as I said, just being careful and being safe and taking the cautious approach, but also doing everything we can to get back as quickly as possible.”

Giddey is putting together his best season yet, and was among the top-15 vote getters in the first batch of fan voting for the All-Star Game.

“Every player that plays this game in the NBA wants to be an All-Star,” Giddey said. “So I’m no different. Obviously, that part’s frustrating. I think more so than that, it’s just not being able to play and try to win games with these guys. So the whole combination, anytime you’re injured, is frustrating.”

— Will Gottlieb   

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MATAS. FREAKING. BUZELIS. That dunk was powerful enough to register on the Richter scale. But it wasn’t just an earthquake. It was also a tornado. No, Sharknado. And a tidal wave. And a landslide. All of those crazy things Mother Earth does…Thunder Blizzard!

While we always appreciate the highlight reel dunks from Buzelis in this early stage of his career, I liked so many other parts of his game tonight just as much. Sure, he had another tough night behind the arc, but he did so many other things well.

He kept the ball moving on offense, tallying a new career-high 6 assists. I particularly enjoyed the left-handed whip of an outlet pass he made to Ayo Dosunmu in transition. On the money, in stride, total heads-up play. And he did that after getting a block to start the break.

Buzelis also chose a few times to put the ball on the floor and attack, with mixed results. He had two impressive buckets inside early in the third quarter, where he used a quick first step and his size to get favorable position. Then finished through contact, getting an and-1 on one of them. That’s the stuff we want to see more of from him.

But he also tried a drive late in the second quarter that went poorly. He received a DHO pass from Vucevic at the top of the key. Vucevic set a screen on Desmond Bane for Buzelis, who crossed over right to left and rejected the screen. As Buzelis drove into the paint with his left hand, Bane freed himself from Vucevic. His physicality on Buzelis caused the youngster to lose control of the ball. Turnover. Magic go the other way.

It’s a forgivable mistake. Just a reminder that Buzelis needs to get stronger, and his handles — and his left especially — still need to get a lot better if he’s going to be a truly lethal offensive player in this league. I still believe he can be.

All Buzelis thoughts tonight. Why? Because he did lots of interesting things, good and bad. And because he is the player who matters most to this team going anywhere in the future. Sorry, not sorry. It’s the truth.

— Matt Peck

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Bulls and Orlando play each other tough and this game is no different. It’s honestly fun to watch them compete out there because there is a mutual dislike for one another and you can tell.

The Bulls’ bench has been carrying the team all season. Doesn’t matter who is in the starting lineup that game; the bench comes in and alters the mood and shifts the focus of the team out there.

Buzelis is more comfortable at the three, which means Billy Donovan is gonna have uncomfortable decisions to make when White and Giddey get back.

That Buzelis dunk. Gatdamn.

You can tell Vucevic gets up to play his former team. He was hitting shots you ain’t seen him take and/or hit in a while.

I need the music in the United Center to be better. They are still playing music from a ‘90s Jock Jams CD. This Chicago, man. All the music that has come from here?!?  We can do better.

Patrick Lee Williams. Still the worst. Oh, you thought it would change because he’s looked ok in these last two games? Nope. Still the worst.

— Big Dave