Thoughts from the Bulls' 118-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks

A collection of my tweets from the game

In case you don’t follow me on twitter, I usually tweet out a string of consciousness after re-watching Bulls games the next morning. Clips, analysis, it’s pretty good free content!

I had more tweets than usual after the Bulls beat the Mavericks 118-108 on Sunday, so I thought I’d collect them here in a more readable format for those of you on the mailing list that still retain some semblance of sanity by not checking twitter every five minutes.

Billy Donovan > Jim Boylen

The Bulls blew a ton of late leads under Boylen, and there was plenty of low hanging fruit for Donovan to pick that would likely result in immediate improvement.

Timeout usage is obviously a big one. Boylen seemed to be constantly losing track of how many he had, leaving himself none in the closing possessions where they become extremely valuable. Donovan did self-admittedly manage them questionably in a one-point loss to the Golden State Warriors. That seems like an anomaly, and he’s kept one or two in the bag in case the Bulls need them to advance the ball late.

The other big area where I was expecting vast improvement was in not being so rigid with defensive philosophies. That has turned out to be true.

Stephen Noh @StephNoh

1) The Bulls were the worst clutch defense in the league last year under Boylen. Heavy blitzing worked in some aspects, but it was way too predictable by the end of the game. Donovan mixed up the coverages twice in the past week in the last ~3 min, both leading to wins.

Stephen Noh @StephNoh

2) Both times, he pulled Wendell Carter and went small with Thad Young at center. Looked like they were hedging pick-and-rolls against the Wizards, then switching almost everything against the Mavs. I like seeing that flexibility and throwing different looks at opponents.

Stephen Noh @StephNoh

3) This felt like a game the Bulls were definitely going to lose. Eight point lead shrunk to two from the 4:43 to 2:27 mark. Donovan closed with his vets (Porter, Temple, Young), as he has before. They steadied the ship.

*note: There’s a typo in this tweet. The eight-point lead shrunk to two from the 4:43 to 3:27 mark. It was looking really bad.

Stephen Noh @StephNoh

4) Donovan is doing an A+ job of juggling the need to develop guys with trying to win games. The Bulls starters are not their best five man unit. Donovan is letting young guys play but trying to win at the end with his vets. He's having his cake and eating it too.

Given a chance to expand my thoughts here, I’m not necessarily in favor of the approach that the Bulls are taking. I’d like to see them try and play a more competitive brand of basketball, and leaving your best players on the bench is not the way to do that. But I also understand why this season would be about development first and foremost.

Either way, a rebuilding coach’s job is challenging. Early results on Donovan are pretty good.

Patrick Williams, still looking nice

This was a decidedly average game for Williams, but even an average game for him has moments that make me excited about his future.

I generally record clips that stand out to me as I watch. I had so many of Williams that I decided to clip them all together and make a reel.

Here’s what an average game for him looks like, condensed into a minute:

Stephen Noh @StephNoh

Here's a little package (offense and defense) of what Patrick Williams did against the Mavs last night, with some short notes included. I'll do more of these throughout the season if there's interest.

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