CHICAGO — Everything Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan has been hoping to see manifested in a glare.
As much of a scowl as Kevin Huerter could muster, anyway. A boastful stank face that the redhead, gifted the moniker of “Red Velvet,” reached deep into his competitive core to form. With two minutes remaining in the third quarter of Chicago’s 24-point comeback — tied for the third-largest in franchise history — Huerter dismissed the fact that Philadelphia 76ers forward Trendon Watford had two inches and almost 40 pounds on him. Huerter absorbed a post-up to swat his shot, then stood over him.
The real slim shady stood up. And with him arose the teamwide mean streak that Donovan has been begging to surface.
It overcame Huerter like a spirit. Budding star guard Josh Giddey’s late-game heroics, including a dime for the game-winning 3, which granted Chicago its first lead, felt secondary in the way the locker room recalled the night. The physicality that laced Tuesday’s second half, the flip in ownership of the game’s pace and intensity, is what they’ve been hoping to bottle up and uncork at will.
They picked some time to do so.
“I mean, we started being physical,” Giddey said matter-of-factly, explaining the Bulls’ seismic half-to-half shift. The implication being that they were pummeled through the first 24 minutes of their 113-111 miracle win.
In the first quarter, Chicago sank at the hands of Philadelphia’s incredible shooting. Behind their 45-point period, the Sixers made eight of their 11 3-point attempts, nine of their 15 attempts in the half court and scored multiple times off turnovers; they finished the quarter with an offensive rating of 191.3.
Down Ayo Dosunmu, the Bulls seemed ill-prepared to slow Tyrese Maxey, who eventually diced his way to 39 points on 26 shots. Maxey toggled between helpless defenders, beginning with Tre Jones, and continuing with anyone else who dared to switch onto his island.
In the first half, Bulls forwards Matas Buzelis and Patrick Williams combined for zero rebounds. The Sixers, in turn, grabbed nine offensive rebounds in that same span.
Surviving that grim reality prompted Donovan to single out his forwards’ second-half turnarounds postgame: a sequence of boards that made his heart leap through his quarter-zip.
With 10:40 remaining and the Bulls down 10, Patrick Williams fended a board away from three different Sixers, snatching the first ball and ravenously collecting his miss before being fouled. And throughout the second half, Buzelis ripped away one-handed defensive rebounds.
Redemption. Or, the way much of the group sees it, the way things should be.
“Physically being ready to play is something everybody can do,” Huerter told The Athletic. “And I just think it’s something we have to expect. We have to know that the way Miami came in and beat us last year in the Play-In game is what every team is gonna try and do against us, and that’s kinda punk us.”
Thus far, these Bulls (6-1) refuse to be remembered in such a way. To be linked to the team once bullied before a national TV audience. Nearly every attempt to dismember their identity this season has been met with a reminder that these games last 48 minutes — more than enough time for them to manufacture pace and flip a game.
No door feels quite shut for Chicago.
For the better part of Tuesday, Maxey and Joel Embiid were enough. Then down the stretch, when the Bulls were seemingly fueled by Liquid I.V. and youthful exuberance, the Sixers’ offense dried up; they went without a field goal for the final 6:26.
Maxey appeared worn, likely a product of the gymnastics it took to even catch the ball behind Isaac Okoro’s denials. The rabid full-court pressure. The motor that kept him on Maxey’s scent. The decision to, with the game in the balance, become as irritating a defender as he’s been in a Bulls uniform.
Giddey, ridiculed as a stiff defender for much of his career, found himself alone with Maxey inside the final two minutes and emerged triumphant. Nikola Vučević, thought to be too slow or too old, held just enough ground on Embiid. Philly’s star duo combined to shoot 2 of 13 in the fourth quarter.
Giddey has been the quarterback Chicago has stomached years of grueling Sundays hoping for. There seemingly isn’t a pass, nor a read, missing from his arsenal. Through seven games, his averages of 22.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 8.7 assists all rank top 30 in the NBA; his stat line of 29 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists against Philly marked his second consecutive triple-double, the first Bull to accomplish the feat since Michael Jordan in April 1989. Naturally, Giddey’s playmaking wizardry decided Tuesday’s game.
On Chicago’s final drive, Philly forward Kelly Oubre latched onto Giddey’s hip as Embiid sneaked away from the 3-point line to lunge at the 23-year-old’s drive. Giddey whipped a cross-body, left-handed laser from his hip to Vučević’s shooting pocket.
Pandemonium ensued. The raucous crowd deserved to disregard decibels for reasons other than the signature Dunkin’ Race or Red Panda. “Let’s go Bulls!” chants filled the corridors for what felt like the first time in a long time.
Tuesday night’s statement win was a final possession and some heroism away from being a cautionary tale. Dating back to Sunday’s loss in New York, the three halves that preceded the second half versus the 76ers demonstrated how small the margin of error remains when Chicago lets its opponents dictate pace. But the second half was a display of what’s made this start special. What’s made it believable even into Wednesday morning, when the buzz of dropping another predicted Eastern Conference playoff team should’ve worn off.
But it hasn’t. The Bulls sit firmly atop the East at 6-1, even after a win they largely believe they stole.
Sighs of relief were buried beneath disappointment. The Bulls, despite an emblematic, heart-stopping comeback, carried undertones of dissatisfaction. They were unimpressed. Unenthused to admit the hole they crawled out of.
By most accounts, the Bulls did not want to sniff Tuesday’s effort long enough to consider it a signature win. At least not the first 24 minutes.
What forced them to claim it was a prevailing truth: These Bulls did not cower. From one half to another, they seized the image Donovan had concocted for them.
“This was the epitome of how Billy (Donovan) has been telling us things are gonna go,” Huerter said.
Giddey was humbled by the licks his Bulls took to even have a chance, and enthralled by the resilience of this squad and its propensity to meet these moments. He was more than fine with signing off on Tuesday’s victory.
“Tonight,” he said, “was one of the best wins that I’ve ever been a part of.”
