Zach LaVine faced tremendous scrutiny heading into the Chicago Bulls’ matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night. Bulls coach Jim Boylen benched LaVine on Friday for making “egregious” defensive errors on Friday. LaVine’s performance on Saturday changed the conversation.
He scored a franchise-record 13 3-pointers, with the 13th coming at the buzzer for the win. The Hornets needed to in bound the ball with seven seconds left. That’s when Bulls guard Ryan Arcidiacono knocked the ball free from Hornets guard Devonte’ Graham under the hoop, and LaVine grabbed it off the court. He then frantically ran to the 3-point line to set up a fading shot. The Bulls won, 126-125. LaVine could have scored a field goal to tie it — but he boldly took a challenging shot to take the lead.
LaVine had 49 points on the night while shooting 17 of 28 from the field and 13 of 17 from the 3-point line. That final 3-point play left the folks in Charlotte in a bad place. Their record falls to 6-11.
Here’s the call from the Hornets’ broadcast.
It was an impressive and desperate finish for LaVine and the Bulls, who have the same record as Charlotte at 6-11. Maybe Boylen should show LaVine some tough love more often.
