Tag Archives: Coby White

Chicago Bulls vs. Thunder preview (Game 75 of 82)

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  • Chicago Bulls (33-41) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (62-12)
  • When: Monday, 31 March 2025 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Offensive Rating – CHI: 113.0 (20th) / OKC: 119.1 (4th)
  • Defensive Rating – CHI: 115.3 (24th) / OKC: 106.1 (1st)
  • Net Rating – CHI: -2.4 (21st) / OKC: 13.0 (1st)

The Set-Up

Ahhh, yes. The Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso trade. Slightly vilified on Chicago’s end early on, but slowly creeping towards being a win/win trade for both teams. After a rough start to the season, Giddey is close to averaging 20/9/8 over the past 2 months. On the flip side of things, Caruso also started off slowly, but is starting to show how valuable he can be for this team as a 3&D player and big time glue guy. Much to the chagrin of basketball Twitter, there are actually trades where it’s a win/win for both teams. Chicago got themselves a point guard to build off of in what is looking like a new rebuild. And OKC got themselves another rotation piece to put around to put around their core three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren. OKC is having a historic season, while Chicago is becoming one of the most exciting young teams in the league. Win/Win! Giddey wasn’t going to work in OKC. He and SGA need the ball in their hands and SGA is the better player. It wasn’t Josh’s fault that he was slotted next to an eventual MVP. But in Chicago, he is able to play his brand of basketball and has flourished. I, for one, am happy for him and hope that he continues his great run of late…just not tonight.

This is the second and final meeting of the season between these two teams. The first meeting took place way early in the season, with OKC coming out victorious, 114-95.

Betting Info

  • Line: OKC -15.5
  • O/U: 238.5

Injury Report

OKC

  • Ousmane Dieng – OUT (calf)
  • Alex Ducas – OUT (quad)
  • Isaiah Hartenstein – Questionable (hip)
  • Chet Holmgren – Questionable (hip)
  • Ajay Mitchell – OUT (toe)
  • Nikola Topic – OUT (knee)
  • Aaron Wiggins – OUT (Achilles)
  • Jaylin Williams – Questionable (hip)

    CHI
  • Lonzo Ball – OUT (wrist)
  • Ayo Dosunmu – OUT (shoulder)
  • Kevin Huerter – OUT (thumb)
  • Tre Jones – OUT (foot)
  • EJ Liddell – OUT (illness)

Three Big Things

1. Since the All-Star Break – While the Thunder have been completely dominant post-ASB, the Chicago Bulls have done a good job of handing the keys off to their players of the future and allowing them to see how they fare against the rest of the league. Giddey, Coby White, and Matas Buzelis have acclimated themselves well to their expanded roles on the team during that time and have allowed for a rosier picture to be painted for a franchise that has been mired in mediocrity for the better part of the past decade. Since the ASB, the Bulls are 11-8 and are 13th in offensive rating, 9th in defensive rating, and 10th in net rating. They are first in pace during that time, 4th in assist/turnover ratio, and 5th in defensive rebound percentage. Over the course of the season, the Bulls have changed the way they play and found a bit of a groove.

2. Pace – As mentioned above, the Bulls lead the league in pace since the All-Star break. Giddey has done a great job of late in grabbing and going, while spraying the ball out to play finishers like Buzelis, White, and Nikola Vucevic. The Thunder are usually the team that likes to run, but this may be a game where they let their halfcourt offense shine. Chicago has done a good job of protecting the ball over this past month and a half, so turnovers may not be in abundant supply in this game.

3. Big Health – With all three centers being game-time decisions today, the matchup against Vucevic may be an interesting one. I doubt all three bigs sit, but if the Thunder are prioritizing health for the playoffs, then Kenrich Williams and Branden Carlson may be the next men up.

Chicago Bulls vs. Thunder preview (Game 15 of 82)

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  • Chicago Bulls (5-10) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (11-4)
  • When: Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Offensive Rating – CHI: 108.5 (27th) / OKC: 116.9 (8th)
  • Defensive Rating – CHI: 113.0 (16th) / OKC: 108.4 (4th)
  • Net Rating – CHI: -4.5 (23rd) / OKC: 8.5 (2nd)

The Set-Up

Breaks can act like momentum killers during an 82-game season. Over the past five games (since November 12th), the Thunder have been 4th in Offensive Rating, 1st in Defensive Rating, 1st in Net Rating, 2nd in Field Goal percentage, 3rd in points, 1st in 3-point FG percentage, 1st in steals and 1st in plus/minus. During that time, they had nothing more than a day off between games. Momentum can be like muscle memory to athletes. So when there is an unfamiliar amount of time off, it can throw a player’s (or team’s) mojo off.

After playing nearly every other day for the better part of a month, the Thunder now find themselves with some time between games. In the last 8 days, the Thunder played 5 games. It’s going to take them 13 days to play their next 5 games. Five days may not seem like a huge difference to you or I. But to an athlete, having that much time between games can disrupt their timing.

Season Series – OKC leads 1-0, having won 124 – 104 on 25 October 2023

Injury Report

OKC

  • Jalen Williams (hip) – Out

CHI

  • Lonzo Ball (knee) – Out
  • Alex Caruso (toe) – Probable
  • Zach Lavine (foot) – Probable
  • Patrick Williams (finger) – Probable

Three Big Things

  1. Chet – It will be interesting to see the duality of how Chet played in his career opener versus how he plays in this game. In that game, Chet scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting, grabbed 4 boards, dished out 3 assists, and got a steal. But all anyone focused on was on the couple of plays where Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond used their strength to score some points against Chet. Fast-forward nearly a month later and Chet looks like an entirely different player. All the nerves have been shed and the player that was the 2nd pick in the 2022 draft is showing why he should’ve likely been drafted No. 1 in that draft.
  2. Take Care of Business – The Bulls just aren’t a very good team. They are inefficient offensively and mid-tier defensively. But when you look at the players on the team, you know that any one of them can go off at any moment. Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan have all had 50 point games in their careers. Vucevic was once one of the premier offensive centers in the league. And guys like Alex Caruso, Jevon Carter, and Coby White can all microwave enough to become big distractions. If the Thunder can focus in and play their game, the result should be similar to the one procured in the first game of the season.
  3. Coach Daigneault – It’s a little jarring how quickly the student has become the master. Chicago coach Billy Donovan did not want to go through a rebuild when he decided not to re-sign with the Thunder after the 2019-20 season. The Thunder signed Daigneault to take over the reins that offseason. While the results have been as expected when it comes to the rebuilding part of the equation, the bearing of fruit has come along much quicker than thought. And a lot of that success is due to the leadership under Daigneault. The Bulls have lost three straight to the Thunder over the past two seasons, including this one.