After a dreadful 5-14 start to the season that had folks clamoring for Chicago to blow things up, the Bulls have bounced back, going 16-9 in their last 25 games, elevating themselves from near the bottom of the Eastern Conference back up to 9th in the standings, right in the mix for a Play-In Tournament berth. In fact, in their last ten games, the Bulls are one of only six teams in the Eastern Conference to have an above .500 record. You can't point to one single Bulls player who has been responsible for this turnaround, but plenty of guys deserve a sliver of the credit.
One of those guys is defensive-minded swingman Alex Caruso, who last night finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and a +18 in 25 minutes in Chicago's dominant 125-96 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The noteworthy Caruso highlight of the game came early in the 4th quarter when Caruso had a resounding fast break slam that pushed Chicago's lead to 19, and pushed LeBron James to social media to give his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate a little love for what LeBron referred to as a “nasty” slam dunk.
Don't let appearances fool you. Alex Caruso has dropped the hammer on plenty of opponents over the course of seven year career, and LeBron James has been there in person to see many of those dunks. This season, Caruso is averaging career highs in both points per game (9.8) and field goal percentage (49 percent), along with boasting a career best 15.2 PER. His name has been routinely mentioned in trade proposals, but given how well both Caruso and the Bulls are playing as of late, it makes sense that Chicago appears to be hesitant to give up on him just yet.
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