Bulls get two key players back for the play-in game against the Hawks
Ayo Dosunmu was sidelined the last week of the regular season with a bad quad, while Andre Drummond was dealing with a bum left ankle. Both were cleared to play against the Hawks on Wednesday.
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Full strength seemed more pipedream than reality for the Bulls leading up to Wednesday’s play-in game, but the organization finally received some good news in that department.
Both Ayo Dosunmu (right thigh contusion) and Andre Drummond (left ankle) were cleared to play against the Hawks, giving the Bulls some much welcomed depth. And not just welcomed, but needed, especially with how well Dosunmu and Drummond played against Atlanta during the regular season.
“One of the things he does so well is he just attacks the rim,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said of the jump Dosunmu has made for the Bulls this season. “It’s hard for one player to stay in front of him in space, so that’s one thing (that’s improved). The other is he’s shot the ball great. They generate shots for him by driving the ball, spacing and then respacing, and he drives closeouts. Contest his shot and try and keep him in front of you, so that means closing out.
“Equally, he’s impactful on defense as well.”
Drummond’s return was also key, especially since Bulls coach Billy Donovan admitted that replacing the big man’s 9.0 rebounds per game despite playing just 17.1 minutes per game was not an easy proposition.
Rookie Adama Sanogo was the only other real option behind Nikola Vucevic, forcing Donovan to have to rely on a small lineup that had gone mostly untested this season.
“He’s been really good on the glass for us, getting extra possessions,” Donovan said of Drummond’s body of work this year. “It’s hard to make up the way he rebounds the ball because it’s just what he does at such an elite level. And then certainly his rolling, his presence rolling to the rim, have been really good. The rim protection piece has been really good.
“But I would just say that his presence around the basket is something that in those games you felt with him, the impact he made. It’s hard to sit there and say physically, there’s anyone on the team that can generate that. We just don’t have that.”
Gone camping
DeMar DeRozan’s daughter, Diar, who became the talk of last season’s play-in game in Toronto, was not able to make the game against the Hawks.
“She went to camp, so she just told me, ‘Make it to the playoffs,’ so she can get to a game,” DeRozan said.
It was Diar that messed with the minds of Raptors players at the free throw line with her piercing scream that went viral, as well as being discussed by the announcers during the nationally televised game.
The Bulls won the game against the Raptors 109-105, while Toronto shot 18-of-36 from the free throw line in that defeat at home.
More on ‘Debo’
During the pregame with Bulls-Hawks, DeRozan was awarded for his community work in mental health, given the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for the month of March.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas presented DeRozan with the David Robinson Trophy and the league will donate $10,000 to Coffee, Hip-Hop and Mental Health (CHHAMH), a mental health advocacy group in Chicago that DeRozan has partnered with.
DeRozan made national news back in February when he released his video series “Dinners with DeMar.” The veteran hosted former and current players at the dinner table, having in-depth discussions about mental health both on and off the court.
“Throughout the years, I’ve seen what can happen when people have honest conversations about mental health and understand that everyone faces challenges, including professional athletes,” DeRozan said of the honor. “I look forward to creating more forums for difficult but necessary conversations and providing more resources to support mental health for those who most need it.”