Back on the hardwood, the Bulls headed down to Orlando to take on the Magic on Thursday night. The Magic have been slumping big time; the Bulls are at a lower position in the Eastern standings. This should be fun.
I’ve been down and up and down and up with Coby White over the years. I was ready to chuck him during the 2022-2023 season; he really showed me something down the stretch that year. He showed great effort and down the stretch in the play-in loss to the Heat, was the Bulls player playing the best; unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the W and the “official” playoff entry. In 2023-2024, he got a chance to shine; with Zach out, he really played well… well enough to win most improved player of the year IMO; that didn’t happen. However, in the play-in tournament this year, Coby showed out. He dropped a career high 42 points, except that didn’t count? Yeah, any stats recorded in the play-in games don’t count; go figure. If you can tell me how that makes sense… The Bulls would proceed to lose to the Heat, again, for the 2nd straight year in the play-in tournament, finishing one game from the official postseason again. Yet, Coby seemed like he had truly arrived. Fast forward to this season, and, well… Coby has been a major disappointment, at least in my mind. A quick look at his stats show similar numbers year over year, slightly down even, but definitely not the “next step” we had all hoped for with Coby Blanco. I think the most frustrating thing has been his inconsistencies. Thursday vs the Magic… well, let’s just say we’ve been waiting…
44 points later, Coby White lead the Bulls to a nice road victory; I was hoping I had said that a lot this year. There are games, parts of games, where Coby disappears; there would be no disappearing tonight. Coby was on fire, and not just from distance, where he canned 7 treys; Coby has a knack for throwing down some pretty big dunks. Remember Wemby early this year? My son doesn’t think it was truly a facial, but… it still looked pretty damn good to me. He slammed one down with authority late in this one too. Coby was doing it all. What is holding him back from doing that consistently? I guess you can ask that question about a lot of guys, but with Coby, you see he has the tools… OK, I’ll blame the coach; Fire Billy?!?!
I didn’t want this game to end, literally. I danced into another player prop during this one, taking Carter Jr against his old team. I had 24.5 for his points, rebounds, and assist total; he had 23 when that last shot went up. The rebound gave him 24, and the put back dunk would have put him over his total, and sent the game to OT, but… he was too late; that’s just about how it’s been running for me lately. Oh well, the Bulls won, and I’m happy; yeah, screw tanking… if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I want to see the Bulls win some games. With Giddey, Matas, and Coby… maybe we do have some pieces for the future. I’m trying to look on the bright side of things; Coby was mighty bright in this one. Until next time. Go Bulls!
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