There’s a certain amount of physicality in every NBA game.
That’s the league.
Then there’s what Daniel Theis did in the second quarter against Miami.
With pesty Heat guard Gabe Vincent literally pulling down on his left arm in the paint, Theis corralled a high Tomas Satoransky pass with his right hand, and in one seemingly fluid motion tossed the ball in for the difficult two.
Forget physical. It was a grown-man play.
“I thought it was a foul too,’’ Theis said of his feat. “I asked if the ref if he thinks I shoot with my left hand behind my back. But I just try to be tough down there.’’
The 6-foot-8 bodyguard disguised as an NBA forward tries to be tough everywhere. There’s a reason the Bulls felt good about what they accomplished at the Mar. 25 trade deadline, and it wasn’t just the acquisition of All-Star center Nikola Vucevic.
Getting Theis from Boston in a three-way deal was just as important, especially because of how soft the old roster played far too often.
There’s still an element of finesse with this 2.0 version, but as Theis displayed on South Beach, they can also beat the opposition with good old fashioned ground and pound.
“He was actually always one of the toughest matchups I faced,’’ Vucevic said of the showdown he used to have with Theis going back to their Orlando-Boston meetings. “He’s a very, very good defender. Very smart. He doesn’t give you anything easy. He makes you work for everything. It’s hard to play against him. And he’s a great teammate. You see a lot of things that he did in Boston that people don’t necessarily see because it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, or if you don’t watch games regularly you won’t see it.’’
In other words the dirty work.
Zach LaVine and Vucevic are All-Star caliber players, and have earned that distinction. But Theis is blue collar. He’s a hard hat, metal lunch box, dirt under his nails – and yes, there could be some blood mixed in – nine-to-fiver.
And with uncertainty hovering over a LaVine return from the NBA’s health and safety protocol, the Bulls are going to need Theis’ mentality to carry the day if they want to chase down Washington and earn that final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.
“I care about the winning part,’’ Theis said of his 23-point explosion in the rematch with Miami. “Stats don’t matter for me, I want to win. I’m just frustrated with myself when we lose games.’’
That’s because he sets a certain bar, not only for himself, but for every player wearing the same colored jersey.
And when he sees back-to-back defensive efforts like the Bulls had in wins over Cleveland and Boston, and then meltdowns like they had in a blowout loss to the Cavs, it means something to him.
“We go to Cleveland we get our ass beat,’’ Theis said of his mentality. “And then in the second half of the back-to-back in Charlotte we play defense again. I think for us it’s about we gotta find our consistency, especially on the defensive end. That’s where I see my job. I’m a defensive anchor, I take defense really personal.’’
Glad to see someone on the Bulls roster does, because it can’t end with just the Miami win on Monday. Not with what’s still sitting in front of them.
At New York, home with Milwaukee, at Atlanta, hosting Philadelphia … it’s an ugly schedule. The kind of schedule only a Theis could love.
“You can see those guys always pointing to him appreciating he’s in those positions,’’ Donovan said of Theis’ ability to defend and cover up the mistakes of teammates on that end. “Like I said from Day 1, you can always feel his presence.’’
