The Chicago Bulls might be addicted to adrenaline.
It’s the only explanation for Wednesday’s 122-121 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. There was no other reason to pile up a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter, only to crumble up that advantage as the Blazers leveled the score with a 28-7 run in less than eight minutes.
And, yes, it ended — like always — with a bang.
The Bulls were down four points with 16 seconds remaining. They reaped the rewards of good luck when Deni Avdija and Jerami Grant each missed a free throw on two of Portland’s final possessions. And when Coby White plunged toward the rim on the final play before flipping the ball out to Nikola Vučević on the perimeter, the center shot the ball with the calm assurance of a game fated to be a win.
But on any other night, the Bulls know all of this might not have been enough.
The Bulls can’t keep this up. They know that. Vučević has hit two game-winning 3-pointers (arguably three counting his go-ahead shot in Denver) in the first 14 games. Ten of their games have ended in clutch situations (within five points inside the five-minute mark), and they’ve won six of them.
And while they’re relieved to sit two games above .500 again at 8-6, the celebration was tinged with a queasiness that comes from one too many close calls.
“I’m happy Vooch made the shot — it was great — but that’s not sustainable basketball,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I’m not taking anything away from Coby’s or Vooch’s play. But in the grand scheme of things, you’re looking at the game totally differently if Vooch misses that shot.”
Two or three weeks ago, the Bulls would have celebrated that win with abandon. Back then, they were still undefeated. They hadn’t learned any lessons the hard way. They weren’t yet haunted by memories of Victor Wembanyama rising to nail two clutch 3-pointers to sneak out of Chicago with a win. Or Donovan Mitchell splitting the defense in half to snatch away a double-digit lead.
They thought — maybe, just maybe — they might be invincible.
On Wednesday, the victory came at a price. Don’t get confused — the team was happy. The players blasted music and cracked jokes in the cramped visitors’ locker room at the Moda Center, teased Vučević for arguing with a fan during a timeout and nitpicked each other for bad plays down the stretch.
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For the Bulls, this game should have served as a crucial step toward forging a winning identity. The ultimate test of a good team is the ability to outperform a beatable opponent. The Blazers were undermanned and poorly rested after a 9 p.m. tipoff the night before. This wasn’t a game that called for feats of heroism.
Instead, the Bulls left Portland with another sharp reminder of their narrow margin for error.
“We can’t rely on trying to get game-winners every game,” Vučević said. “We have to be better in that situation when we have that lead. The best teams, that’s what they do. They have the lead and they control the game and finish the game off. We have to find a way to do that.”
Here are three takeaways from the win.
1. The Blazers were big on the boards.
Portland is known as a prolific offensive rebounding team. And despite being one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the NBA, the Bulls couldn’t keep the Blazers off the offensive boards — especially in the fourth quarter.
The Blazers tallied 38 second-chance points off 26 offensive rebounds. Thirteen of those points came in the fourth quarter as the Blazers turned up their pressure and threw bodies at the backboard. In comparison, the Bulls managed only seven offensive boards.
“We’ve got to hold our ground more with the way they were just going through us,” Donovan said.
2. Searching for the long shot.
For the second straight game, the Bulls were willing to live and die at the 3-point arc. They took only 22 shots in the restricted area and 40 total shots in the paint. Strong shooting in both zones helped to offset the low volume, but the Blazers still won the short-game battle, scoring 56 of their 121 points in the restricted area.
Instead, the Bulls pummeled Portland with an onslaught of perimeter shots, finishing 21 of 49 behind the arc. Vučević and White both went 5 of 9 from deep to combine for nearly half of the team’s total 3-point production.
That doesn’t mean the Bulls weren’t driving downhill. They produced the bulk of their 3-point shots by sucking in the defense at the rim, then kicking out for unchallenged shots behind the arc. The Bulls finished with 36 assists on 46 made field goals, reflecting the cohesive movement that produced their shooting opportunities.
3. Matas Buzelis fought off foul trouble.
The whistle has not been a friend to Buzelis this season.
The second-year forward had fouled out twice before Wednesday’s game, a reflection of both his increased minutes as a starter and his attempts to provide a defensive backstop for a Bulls team that often lacks fortitude when its opponent goes on the attack. But it also means Buzelis commonly finds his minutes restricted by an early foul tally.
That continued to be an issue in Portland. An early foul caused Donovan to pull Buzelis after only 2 minutes, 15 seconds on the court. He played only 5:22 in the second quarter — and still managed to get two more fouls in that span.
But Buzelis made the necessary adjustments, playing straight-up defense without fouling in the second half to earn a spot in the closing unit. He finished with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots against his three fouls.