The Chicago Bulls erased a 21-point deficit Tuesday night to beat the Philadelphia 76ers and improve their record to an Eastern Conference-best 6-1 on the season. Josh Giddey once again led the way with 29 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, becoming the first Bulls players with a triple-double in consecutive games since Michael Jordan.
That name has been coming up a lot lately with this year’s team.
Last week, they became the first Bulls team to start 5-0 since the 1996-97 Bulls led by Jordan. It’s a stunning development for a team that entered the season with the NBA’s seventh-worst preseason win total projection at BetMGM. At their current pace, the Bulls would eclipse that line of 33.5 wins by mid-January. Nobody saw this kind of season for them.
Of course, it’s still early. Things can and most likely will change. Especially as some of the East’s better teams get healthier. Nobody expects a deep playoff run from Chicago, but the early returns are nonetheless encouraging. Five of the Bulls’ six wins have come against potential East playoff teams. Giddey is playing like an All-Star, averaging 23 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. And the team has the NBA’s seventh-best net rating going into Wednesday’s games.
If nothing else, the Bulls are fun again. That’s more than we’ve been able to say about them in a long time.
Shootaround
This was Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.