The Chicago Bulls have fallen off in the postseason picture, and they are poised to miss the play-in tournament for the first time in the past four seasons. It's clear that Chicago is pivoting more towards its youth, and in turn, Matas Buzelis is getting the opportunity of a lifetime. On Monday night, Buzelis played a starring role in the Bulls' 132-124 upset victory over the Rockets, putting up 23 points on an efficient 8-16 shooting night.
Considering how much the Bulls have struggled since the trade deadline, they need every glimmer of hope they can get that there is, indeed, some light at the end of the tunnel as far as their rebuild goes. And games like this one from Buzelis gives just that, especially when he made a few clutch plays in their most recent victory.
“I'm just trying to be aggressive all the time. I don't care who's in front of me. I'm gonna take on the challenge,” Buzelis told K.C. Johnson of CHSN.
It must have been very motivating for Buzelis to do well for himself, considering that he himself admitted that Rockets star Kevin Durant, who had 40 points on the night, was “cooking” him.
“He was kicking my butt, man. It was tough. Obviously, he's an amazing player. I'm just really happy we came out with a win. He was cooking me,” Buzelis admitted.
The Bulls have a long way to go in their rebuild, but to say that they don't have a few promising pieces would be disingenuous. Buzelis has the size of a prototypically impactful two-way wing, and Josh Giddey is a stat-sheet stuffer extraordinaire.
Buzelis is also only 21 years of age, so the sky is the limit for the second-year forward. Getting an up close and personal look at Durant surely must have taught the Bulls youngster a few tricks he could incorporate into his game moving forward.
