Matas Buzelis is not afraid to dunk on anyone — no, seriously, anyone — in the NBA.
On Wednesday night, that simple fact buoyed the Chicago Bulls twice in a desperate sprint to finish a 115-111 season-opening win over the Detroit Pistons.
The Bulls spent three quarters piling up a 23-point lead and fewer than 15 minutes squandering it. Pistons cut the lead down to nine points with just under 10 minutes left to play. The air in the United Center rippled with the slow exhale of a crowd that became accustomed to this pattern of implosions and collapses last season.
But here’s the thing about desperation — it takes very little to be fully dispelled. For the Bulls, all it took was a half-second of flight from their youngest star.
The next play stalled out. Ayo Dosunmu balked under the basket. Isaac Okoro nearly let an ensuing pass knock him backward out of bounds. But once Okoro put the ball on the hardwood, Buzelis spotted a narrow crack up the gut of the Pistons defense and took off running.
And no, it didn’t matter that Isaiah Stewart — a notably gnarly defender who weighs 40 pounds more than Buzelis — waited eagerly under the basket. Buzelis planted both of his feet and soared, one arm cocked back with ill intent. When Stewart raised a hand to block his shot, he simply pushed — hard — and the man with momentum won out to put the Bulls ahead by a basket.
“I’m not really worried he was there,” Buzelis said. “I’m athletic enough to finish over anybody, so I don’t really care about that.”
Photos: Chicago Bulls open season at home with a 115-111 win over the Detroit Pistons
Before the game, coach Billy Donovan preached temperance.
He understands the high hopes that have been pinned to Buzelis’ shoulders in his second year with the Bulls. The fans want Buzelis to be an All-Star, an antidote to the irrelevance that has plagued this team for most of the last decade.
But Donovan wants Buzelis to understand that this season is only a single step toward the player he hopes to become in this league.
“He has not arrived,” Donovan said. “He just hasn’t. And that’s the truth. I love Matas and I think he’s got an unbelievable runway to be an outstanding player in this league if he keeps his drive and his motivation and doesn’t think he’s arrived. … As long as he can keep his drive there, I don’t really worry about it. He’s just becoming a really, really good basketball player.”
Even after a statement win, Donovan’s words still rang true.
Buzelis struggled plenty in Wednesday’s win. He failed to make stops as the secondary defender in the final three minutes, missing rotations as the Pistons punched back to tie the score seven times. He missed all three of his attempts from behind the arc. At times, he still sank into spectator mode on defense.
Donovan could hardly contain his frustration when Buzelis missed a boxout to allow a Pistons offensive rebound in the first half. Buzelis joked with his coach after the game: “That’s the loudest I think I’ve ever heard you yell.”
But for every error, Buzelis found a way to balance his game, sneaking behind shooters to block away a shot in recovery and forcing his way to the free-throw line. He finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and three blocks. And when the Bulls found themselves on their back foot once again with two minutes and five seconds on the clock, Buzelis was there, already airborne, arcing toward the basket to crush an alley-oop through the rim to give his team another two-point lead.
Winning was a nervous, skittish affair. The Bulls nearly turned the ball over with 12.7 seconds left while only leading by a single point. They needed three free throws from Josh Giddey to cling to a three-point lead in the final gasp of the game despite leading by 23 points early in the second half.
But the final 115-111 scoreline broke a cycle of slow starts that had defined the last two seasons. And it also proved that Buzelis — for all his growing up left to do — is ready to ball.
The second-year forward might not have arrived. Not quite yet. But on Wednesday, Buzelis announced his intent to ascend to the upper echelon of the league.
Here are four other takeaways from the win.
1. The Bulls were short-handed for the opener.
Wednesday marked the first of at least six games that the Bulls will have to face without starting guard Coby White, who led the team in scoring last season after former star Zach LaVine was traded to the Sacramento Kings. And the defense also sorely missed backup center Zach Collins, who will be out for at least 16 games after undergoing wrist surgery last weekend.
Ayo Dosunmu (thumb) and Patrick Williams (ankle) were both cleared to play without a minutes restriction, which gave the Bulls a deeper selection of the secondary rotation.
2. Nikola Vučević’s scoring overcame defensive weaknesses.
Wednesday’s game was not an easy defensive assignment for Nikola Vučević, who struggled with familiar weaknesses as the Pistons attacked the big man through the pick-and-roll.
Early in the game, the Pistons established a clear point of offensive leverage — get the ball over Vučević’s head and the rest will work itself out. Detroit scored two dunks in the first 90 seconds off lobs created by this tactic, taking advantage of Vučević’s tendency to rotate early while providing help on Cade Cunningham.
These defensive woes were a lone detractor to the impact that Vučević made on offense as the leading scorer for the Bulls with 28 points and 14 rebounds. The center gobbled up floaters when the Pistons gave him space in the midrange and torched the perimeter while shooting 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
3. Hot (and cold) for Josh Giddey.
It’s hard to deny the statistical impact that Josh Giddey made upon Wednesday’s win — but those 19 points and 11 assists came after a shaky start.
Giddey did not score for nearly five minutes to start the game. He whiffed the entire basket on his first shot attempt of the game. Ausar Thompson battered his third shot of the game with a thumping block from behind, sending him sprawling forward onto his stomach.
Then — as he often does — Giddey found his footing. He floated running shots over the outstretched arms of defenders and slung half-blind skip passes to set up teammates for open baseline drives. The guard still struggled with ball control, coughing up six turnovers. But Giddey also clinched the ending for the Bulls, scoring the last three points of the game at the free throw line and grabbing the team’s final defensive rebound.
4. No time for Noa Essengue.
Rookie Noa Essengue did not get to make his debut in Wednesday’s game despite multiple injury absences opening up more space in the rotation.
This did not come as a complete surprise. The Bulls have always planned to take a slow approach toward the development of the 18-year-old. Essengue underwent an extensive pregame workout with assistant coach John Bryant, focusing mainly on cuts and single-dribble drives to the basket off the catch.
The pressing question for the rookie is when he will make his debut — and how long it will take for Donovan to trust him with substantial minutes.