White’s 42 Lifts Bulls to Play-In Rematch with Heat – The rematch in the ‘305’ is upon us. The Chicago Bulls are entering the final round of the NBA play-in tournament, which is another win or go home scenario.
The Bulls blew out the Atlanta Hawks 131-116 on Wednesday night in the ‘House that Jordan Built’, the United Center. That score was not far from their season high of 136 points during the regular season. Coby White put the team on his back and erupted for a career-high 42 points, shooting 15-21 from the field, and 3 of 7. from distance more than any regular-season game he has played in his career.
The victory puts Chicago in position for a game against the short-handed Miami Heat for the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Friday in Miami. The Heat will be significantly undermanned for that matchup after a potential MCL injury to star Jimmy Butler. The Bulls could suffer the same fate as well, as ESPN’s senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that star defender Alex Caruso could be in doubt after sustaining a “significant” right foot sprain Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Hawks season is over after posting a record of 36-46 in the regular season and dropping their final six games.
It is hard to imagine a better start for the Bulls than hanging 40 points to pump up their home crowd. They dominated the first quarter 40-22 and kept their foot on the gas pedal for the lion’s share of the second quarter. They looked good doing it.
Spearheading much of that offense was White, who is leading the pack for the Most Improved Player award after becoming a full-time starter this season. As stated previously, White filled up the stat sheet finishing the game with 42 points on 15-of-21 shooting with nine rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers.
The Hawks did not go away quietly. They scratched and clawed at the lead in the final minutes of the second quarter, led by Dejounte Murray on an off night for Trae Young. The three-time All-Star was playing in only his fourth game since returning from finger surgery and posted 22 points on 4-of-12 shooting with 10 assists and six turnovers, five of them coming in the opening frame.
Meanwhile, Murray, who was asserting himself, finished with 30 points.
The Hawks managed to stay within shouting distance, however their lack of depth hurt them badly. Neither of these teams is known for having a deep bench (Atlanta is No. 25 in the NBA in bench minutes per game; Chicago is No. 30), but the glaring difference was Chicago did not have any reason to pull their starters beyond fatigue.
Atlanta most certainly did, with De’Andre Hunter experiencing one of his worst games as a pro with eight points on 3-of-16 shooting. The Hawks’ offense could not overcome their subpar defense and stopped answering the Bulls’ punches late in the third and the result was an 18-2 extended Chicago run that for all intents and purposes put the game out of reach.
No team should be jumping for joy about going 36-46 and getting taken to the woodshed in the bad play-in game, but Wednesday’s result is particularly alarming when you have no more options to turn to and the team seems lifeless.
The Hawks were built around Young to push them into the playoffs. He has his notable limitations, particularly on the defensive end, but a player who can score at will and get his teammates involved such as he can, should be able to essentially be a “just add water” player on offense, the water being shooters and a competent pick-and-roll partner.
The Hawks tried that and reached the Eastern Conference finals, but struggled to deliver an encore. They tried giving Young an All-Star backcourt partner in Murray and won two fewer games the next season. They ousted head coach Nate McMillan and hired a veteran in Quin Snyder and got even worse.
What exactly do you do after that? Young, Murray, Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanović are all committed to the organization for at least the next three seasons. Spotrac currently has the team with negative $46 million in cap space for 2024-25.
Any moves to build around Young should have theoretically already taken place by now. He is finishing up his sixth year with the organization, with little to show for it beyond that time he trolled New York Knicks fans in Madison Square Garden. That sounds like a player for whom you could entertain a trade, but even that would not be particularly fair considering he was playing his fourth game back from injury.
It is going to be a difficult offseason filled with sleepless nights and hard questions for the Hawks.
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Heat’s Butler Expected to Miss Weeks with Knee Injury – The Miami Heat get a reprieve and have a second chance to make it to the playoffs after losing the first play-in game to the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night, but their heart and soul and leader Jimmy Butler will not be able to help them on the floor. After injuring his knee during the Heat’s 105-104 loss, Butler will reportedly be out multiple weeks with a possible MCL injury.
Butler’s injury occurred in the waning moments of the first quarter. He landed hard on the floor after going for a layup and was down for several minutes in obvious pain.
He appeared to be in such agonizing pain that it felt like a foregone conclusion that he would exit the game. Miraculously, he got up, dusted himself off and shot a few free throws. And despite an obvious limp, Butler toughed it out and stayed in the game, playing north of 39 minutes, the second-most of any other Heat player. His 19 points were also the second-most on the team.
Butler remaining in the game and still being effective felt like a good sign, but he had a noticeable limp that only got worse as the game progressed. Butler said later that the injury “had me feeling that I couldn’t do too much.”
A camera spotted him walking out of the arena very, very gingerly and with a pronounced limp.
Butler is scheduled to have an MRI Thursday, which will reveal the seriousness of what is going on with his knee. But that may be just a formality at this point. The Heat face the Chicago Bulls in the second play-in game Friday night, and they will have to try to make it work with Butler sidelined.
