Center Jalen Smith caught the ball in the left corner.
The center is known for his three-point shooting, not for putting the ball on the floor. But with the Bulls down three in the fourth quarter, Smith drove baseline past All-Star Paul George and exploded toward the rim.
Smith elevated over Joel Embiid for a thunderous poster that did more than cut the Bulls’ deficit to one and the delight of fans and disbelief of his teammates.
On a day where their offense was throwing up clunkers from the three-point line, Smith’s dunk galvanized the Bulls.
“That I was nasty,” guard Tre Jones said. “I feel like usually he doesn’t really dunk it. He’ll just drop it in and kind of finger roll it. He finally turned it over and dunked it. That was huge for us.”
After forcing a miss on the next possession by the Sixers, Coby White attacked Embiid on a switch before stepping back and nailing a three-pointer to give the Bulls a one-point lead. But the Bulls’ 109-102 win, their fifth straight, wasn’t about the Bulls’ starters. It was the team’s depth that led the charge, scoring 59 points.
On the Bulls’ second-to-last offensive possession, Jones came up with two big offensive rebounds and eventually scored a game-sealing layup.
“When guys don’t have great size or length, you don’t look at them as being physical,” coach Billy Donovan said. “[Jones] is just in tune to what’s going on in the game.”
The Bulls are at their best when they have multiple players chipping in on the offensive end and competing defensively — the Sixers missed their last six shots. Center Zach Collins and Jones tied for the team lead with 15 points. White (13 points) and guard Josh Giddey (12) were a combined 7-for-24 from the field.
This win was different from others the Bulls have had on their winning streak. They didn’t win on Friday because of offensive flair or an improbable comeback. They won because they were locked in defensively — the Sixers shot just 37.6% from the field — and grinded out a win. For a team that isn’t necessarily built to win games because of its defense, it was a surprise to see the Bulls out-hustle a team. Jones finished with six rebounds, a testament to his insatiable hunger.
“You just got to give all the credit to [Jones’] IQ,” Collins said. “He knows where to be in those moments, and [Donovan] puts a lot of trust in him.”
Donovan has said all year that the team needs everyone to contribute, and that was evident on Friday with six Bulls finishing in double figures. Collins did a really impressive job defending Embiid and making it difficult for him at the rim.
The goal for the Bulls is being able to play up to this standard for prolonged success. Aside from Noa Essengue’s season-ending injury, the Bulls are healthy for the first time since the season began.
The Bulls feel that with everyone in the fold, they’re starting to create that chemistry that eluded them over their seven-game losing streak. But the Bulls need to maintain their winning habits and continue building on performances like Friday’s. With Milwaukee and Minnesota next up on the schedule, they have to maintain their effort and tenacity if they want to keep the winning streak going.
“Even if we lost a couple [of games], we were still trending in the right direction,” Collins said. “Everybody’s kind of having a good run right now.
“We’re crashing the glass a little bit more, just playing a little bit harder and obviously that’s easier when things are going well. We’re winning games and the vibes are high. So we just got to make sure we keep doing those things here.”