MILWAUKEE — Early in the fourth quarter of Friday’s 132-125 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls guard Buddy Hield leaped to his feet to roar at rookie Caleb Wilson.
The kid wasn’t getting back on defense. Bucks center Myles Turner had just cleaned his clock on the low block, smacking away a weak shot attempt to get his team running in transition. Wilson didn’t even make it to half-court before the play developed — or before Noa Essengue blew it up, poking the ball out of Ryan Rollins’ hands and flinging a pass back to Wilson for a do-over.
It was the moment Wilson had been waiting for since he was a kid. He barely needed any windup to launch skyward. For a moment, he hung suspended, the ball pulled back behind his head in eager anticipation. This wasn’t Wilson’s first NBA dunk. But it was the most emphatic, the most propulsive, putting the Bulls up by four points during the final quarter of a game in which they had trailed by as many as 15. As he crashed back down to earth, Wilson let out a yell that somehow could be heard over the entire crowd at Fiserv Forum.
Desperation is not a hallmark of the opening week of the NBA season. But for the Bulls and Bucks, the midafternoon clash — tipoff was moved up four hours to 3 p.m. because of the Milwaukee Brewers hosting Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night — represented a truly desperate affair for teams with limited opportunities to score wins this season. Both are projected to finished near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The Bulls limped into Milwaukee two days after a humiliating 43-point road loss to the Toronto Raptors in their season opener. Entering the even-handed matchup against the Bucks, they knew they faced a brutal stretch of upcoming games against contenders such as the defending champion New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs. The Bulls were driven by an equal desire for redemption and relief.
Wilson understood that desperation. He didn’t make a strong first impression on the NBA. The mistakes and misses during Wednesday’s loss hung heavy for the hours separating the final buzzer in Toronto and the opening whistle in Milwaukee. Wilson wanted to prove he could be a winner — for the Bulls, in the NBA.
The first half felt like an extension of Wilson’s underwhelming debut. He missed assignments on defense, struggled to hit from 3-point range and couldn’t create opportunities to score. Wilson took only three shots in the first half, managing just two points. Unlike Wednesday’s opener, however, Friday’s game gave Wilson more room to learn in real time.
“One thing (I’ve learned) about the NBA is that games evolve,” Wilson said. “You might touch it in the first half, then you’ll get a chance. So I go out there and do what I can. That’s just all I did. It’s a long game and teammates have to find you. Honestly, I’m one of the focal points of our team defensively. Most teams focus on me. So just having that patience and knowing that it’s eventually going to come.”
That didn’t mean the game was without its challenges — because the Bucks offered plenty of them. Wilson had to take on Turner when the Bulls shifted to a smaller rotation, a size differential that tested his ability to produce physicality in the post. The pair traded blocks and blows as each attempted to clobber his way to the rim. Jaime Jaquez Jr. offered an equally challenging matchup, giving Wilson a heavy back-and-forth in the second half.
But Wilson also found the pockets of comfort he had sought in his NBA debut. He knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and placed two well-timed blocks. He turned the ball over less — albeit still committing three giveaways — and showed improved decision-making on the defensive end. Wilson finished with 21 points, six rebounds and a steal, a considerable improvement from his minus-44 rating on opening night.
Wilson gave the Bulls a one-point lead with 1 minute, 16 seconds to play after driving the ball straight into the teeth of Kasparas Jakučionis, earning a blocking foul and sinking two free throws as a result. Wilson drew another foul on the ensuing play while driving at Turner, extending the lead to three with 35.2 seconds remaining. Both clutch plays encapsulated the cool-headed finishing Wilson hopes to establish as a foundation of his NBA ethos — and his desire to make an impact when the moment calls.
“I try to go dunk the ball every time,” Wilson said. “I wasn’t really looking for a foul. If they called it, they did, but I’m not going to go into the paint looking for a foul. If that’s what the ref decides to call, that’s what they call. But toward the end of the game, I’m the guy, so I’m going to go out there and be assertive and make sure I can make a play.”
The Bulls needed the win. But this season, how a game is won or lost matters more than the ultimate result. The valuation of a quality win starts and ends with how Wilson features within it. A bounce-back game from the rookie only sweetened that final result.
Here are three takeaways from the victory.
Benched in the clutch
Coach Tiago Splitter opted to close the game with bench players Tre Jones and Isaac Okoro on the court, notably benching Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey. Splitter said he preferred that rotation to give the Bulls the best chance to win, and they they thrived under the faster-paced tempo Jones set.
The bench unit made a splash through pure effort, at times wielding a full-court press to force the issue for the Bucks offense. Jones was a crucial piece of this performance, showing a greater versatility as a scorer than Giddey, who logged only six points alongside his nine assists. Despite this success, however, Splitter said he does not plan to adjust his starting group for Saturday’s home opener against the Washington Wizards.
Meanwhile, Buzelis did not play in the fourth quarter. The third-year forward logged 17:18, a reflection of shortened rotations that appear to be a trend to start the year. Buzelis played barely four minutes in the first and third quarters before he was cycled out for Okoro in a planned defensive substitution. Buzelis took only nine shots and scored only seven points, turning the ball over twice as he once again struggled to control his handle and carve a path to the rim.
Buzelis doesn’t need to hit every night. That’s not realistic for a player this young with this much left to prove. But it is genuinely concerning for the Bulls that role players such as Leonard Miller — who finished with 19 points — are outperforming one of their young centerpiece players in these opening games.
Essengue shows promise
The win also showed a new side to the second-year forward, who played six minutes as a rookie and struggled greatly throughout summer league and the preseason to establish himself on the court. Essengue didn’t play until deep in the second half against the Raptors. But he earned an early spot in the rotation in Milwaukee, entering in the first quarter and providing consistently impactful minutes as a defender.
Essengue has the tools to become the best on-ball defender on the Bulls, with a surprising lateral speed that pairs nicely with his length. That showed throughout a disruptive defensive outing in Milwaukee, where he logged a block and three steals. The forward’s 3-point shooting still needs significant work — he missed both of his attempts, including a clean air ball — but this leap in comfort and energy represents a major improvement for a young player with plenty of room to grow.
Jones had a straightforward explanation for Essengue’s growth from Year 1 to Year 2.
“He’s not 18,” Jones said with a laugh. “He’s 19 now. He’s a year older. He’s still super young, but he’s a little stronger and the game’s slowing down for him a little bit. You can see the confidence in him and he understands the game a little bit more. He picks up full court. He’s always crashing the boards. … He’s the ultimate teammate.”
A 3-point question
The Bulls are not a good 3-point shooting team. That was clear enough in the season opener, but the depth of this deficiency became painfully evident against the Bucks, who made seven more 3-pointers than the Bulls (12 for 45, 26.7%). They’re taking plenty of 3s — they just aren’t making them.
While the Bucks are not an offensive powerhouse, they field enough shooters who are lethal enough to bail out bad drives to the rim, providing worthwhile outlet options who can knock down a 3 after a failed attempt to pressure the basket. The Bulls don’t have those options.
Over the course of his career, Norman Powell has proved to be an efficient 3-point shooter. Buddy Hield and Jalen Smith are similarly consistent. It stands to reason that all three players will reach some level of normalcy with their shot over the course of the season. But what about the rest of the roster?
Giddey’s shot is improved but not special. Buzelis is trying to focus more on playing off the dribble. Wilson has not shot the 3-ball consistently in his first two games. And the Bulls can’t rely on secondary players such as Okoro or Jones to make up the difference in 3-point volume.
There is not a clear and obvious fix to the lack of shooting firepower on the Bulls roster without significant development from individual players — and that growth has yet to be seen in the early days of the season.