Chicago Bulls fringe rotation players finally get their chance to shine

The Chicago Bulls pull into a 129-127 win over the Washington Wizards in the penultimate game of the regular season.

With the ninth seed locked into place, the Bulls had no reason to risk injury. DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic sat out for rest. Alex Caruso was out with ankle injury maintenance. Ayo Dosunmu (thigh contusion), Andre Drummond (ankle), Julian Phillips (foot) remain out with their injuries.

The Bulls started Coby White, Onuralp Bitim, Dalen Terry, Torrey Craig and Javonte Green.

Meanwhile, the injury-riddled Wizards were without Jordan Poole, Richaun Holmes, Marvin Bagley, Tyus Jones, Bilal Coulibaly, Kyle Kuzma, and Landry Shamet.

Injury (or rest in this case) equals opportunity, so here are some notes on the young players who played:

— Despite picking up his fifth foul mid-way through the third quarter, Dalen Terry was productive with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting with four rebounds and eight assists.

In the past, Terry has had trouble getting himself into situations where he is able to put his passing abilities on display. He is not a threat as an outside shooter, so team’s don’t close out to him. He’s not a high-level ball-handler to where he can break defenders down off-the-bounce. He needs an advantage to be created for him to optimize his skillset.

The flashes come out in transition for the most part, but Terry has put on muscle, developed his driving game and improved finishing in traffic, helping pull the tools in his game together.

— Adama Sanogo knows one thing and one thing only: attack the offensive glass and put the ball back up. Sanogo is an offensive rebounding machine — he registered a franchise record with eight offensive rebounds in a single quarter. He had 22 points and 20 rebounds while shooting 8-of-18 from the field. He hit multiple free throws in the final minute to extend the Bulls lead and keep the Wizards at bay.

Sanogo is still very raw, but has a nice touch when he can get his hands on the ball. He’s not a vertical athlete or a shooter, but he did his best Drummond impression on Friday night, and that has value.

— Henri Drell (nine points) hit a key three and had a couple nice defensive plays in the third quarter, but his over-the-top reactions were the most notable element of his game. He reacted as if Zach LaVine just dunked from the free throw line to score a 50 at the dunk contest.

— Jevon Carter had his best game as a Bull with 20 points and 12 assists. The Bulls needed someone, anyone to get shots up and Carter was aggressive getting to his spots.

— Torrey Craig registered an 11-point, 15-rebound double-double in 34 minutes of play. Perhaps he will have a rest game on Sunday in New York.

— Javonte Green had 20 points in the first half and 24 on the night.

Tankathon standings update

The one area where the Bulls still have something to play for is the tankathon standings, where they can still influence their odds to climb in the lottery.

Both the Bulls and the Rockets won, so the Bulls will maintain their one-game advantage in the tankathon wins column heading into the final game of the season.

The Rockets, who have traded away their pick, have the Clippers, who appear to be locked into the fourth seed with home court advantage in the first round of the Playoffs.

If the Bulls win and the Rockets lose on Sunday, the two teams will finish with the same record. A coin will be flipped to determine who finishes with the 11th best odds and who finishes 12th.

Play-In fixture

Despite the Bulls already being locked into the 9th seed, the middle of the Eastern Conference is still very much up for grabs. Seeds two-through-eight will be determined on Sunday, but here’s where things stand after Friday night’s matchups.

• Philadelphia 76ers (46-35) beat the Orlando Magic (46-35)
• Cleveland Cavaliers (48-33) beat the Indiana Pacers (46-35)
• Miami Heat (45-36) beat the Toronto Raptors (25-56)
• New York Knicks (49-32) beat the Brooklyn Nets (32-49)
• Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Milwaukee Bucks (49-32)

Orlando, Indiana, Philadelphia and Miami are still jockeying for position and a chance to avoid the Play-In altogether. But it’s looking likely that the Bulls will face either Miami or Philadelphia assuming they can take care of the Atlanta Hawks in their first Play-In Game.

Miami and Philadelphia can both move up with wins and losses from Orlando and Indiana. The Magic play the Bucks and the Pacers play the Hawks, so in addition to the Bulls, those will be the games to watch on the final day of the 2023-24 regular season.

Up next: Regular season finale on Sunday afternoon against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden

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