Chicago Bulls Notes: A Failed Comeback, Matas Buzelis Gives Us So Much Hope, Tre Jones Injury Update, More (2025)

The young Chicago “Cardiac” Bulls were taught a valuable lesson on Saturday. As great as this team has been in the clutch over the last few weeks, bringing it down to the wire every night is no way to live.

To be sure, the Bulls were awfully close to shocking the United Center crowd once again. They were down 12 points with 2:55 left to go, only to rattle off a 13-4 run to make it 118-115 with 32.0 seconds to go. This group deserves credit for staying locked in until the end and putting themselves in a position to potentially steal another game. Nevertheless, what you do over a full 48 minutes matters, and the Bulls simply didn’t earn last night’s win by coughing up 19 turnovers and allowing 64 points in the paint.

• Two nights after his heroic effort, Josh Giddey had his worst game in months. The guard came into the night averaging 21.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists per game since Feb. 20, and he also recorded three triple-doubles over this stretch. Against a frisky Dallas Mavericks defense, however, he resorted back to his early-season self. Giddey finished with his fewest points (8) since mid-January and shot just 3-12 from the field. Things were so rough that Billy Donovan yanked him for Dalen Terry over the final few minutes, only to sub him in for one of the Bulls’ final offensive possessions. Dallas’ success at the rim had plenty to do with attacking off the bounce Giddey, which is something head coach Jason Kidd did on repeat during last season’s playoff series against OKC.

• So is this a sign of Giddey coming back down to earth? Maybe. He has played out of his mind over the last month, so a slight regression wouldn’t be unthinkable. Still, I’m willing to give him a mulligan. Everyone has an off night, and Giddey has played so darn well for weeks that it was only a matter of time before a stinker arrived. I don’t necessarily see this snowballing into a multi-game slump (although a battle with his former team next could be tough). With that said, I do think this is a good reminder that consistency is key for the 22-year-old. We’ve seen some very high-highs and very low-lows for Giddey in Year 1 with Chicago, and this front office can use that as a negotiating tactic this summer.

• Despite Giddey’s off night and the Bulls’ general sloppiness, Bulls fans were still able to leave last night’s game with their head held high. Matas Buzelis had one of his best all-around performances of the season, leading the team with 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Billy Donovan showed an immense amount of trust in the rookie by keeping him on the floor for 38 minutes of action, which was a season-high. This was another game where Buzelis showed an incredibly versatile scoring arsenal, hosting for transition layups, cutting for thunderous slams, nailing spot-up threes, and even operating as the pick-and-roll ball-handler! Will Gottlieb shared a couple of clips of Buzelis leading the PnR in the first quarter, and I highly recommend you take a look. The list of six-foot-ten guys who can initiate offense in this way is extremely short.

• It feels like a lot to say that Buzelis will become the Bulls’ No. 1 scoring option in the near future, but would anyone be all that surprised if he were their No. 2 in a couple of years? The ball-handling has been so much better than advertised from the jump, as has the three-point shot. The fact that he’s shown this deep of a scoring arsenal this early on is beyond promising. I know I keep saying it, but I really think the Bulls have found a DUDE.

• Drew Stevens of The Bigs asked Billy Donovan whether he feels “vindicated” for his early-season approach with Buzelis’ workload. His response was interesting:

“There are certain things players have to go through and do to be successful. Unfortunately, sometimes people think the only path for a player’s development is playing time … I think for him, you can’t just keep giving for the sake of giving because at some point It stops. Ok, you’re three years into it, now help the team win. When he’s never helped the team win, you’ve never focused on winning, it’s never been a priority? He needs to understand the priority of what goes into winning.”

• I encourage you to listen to Donovan’s full comments to Stevens here. For what it’s worth, while I get where Donovan is coming from, I’m still not a huge fan of the way things were handled. Who is today Buzelis has put together these solid performances over the last month BECAUSE of Donovan’s short leash? Who is to say he wouldn’t be even further along right now if he were playing 30 minutes a night from the jump? Also, it’s not like he watched the Bulls win a bunch while on the bench. If anything, the team is now doing better in large part because of what he offers as a two-way player!

• This Julian Phillips sequence gave me life …

• The latest Tre Jones update isn’t all that encouraging. Billy Donovan shared with reporters, including Cody Westerlund of 670 The Score, that the guard is in a walking boot and still experiencing pain. He will return to basketball activities when he is pain-free, which certainly puts into question his availability for the rest of the season. The Bulls only have eight games left on the calendar before the Play-In.

• Last night’s Neil Funk appearance was a very pleasant surprise!

• Tab reviews the Blackhawks’ recent draft picks and how they continue to make an impression at the NHL level. The youth movement is looking good!

• I’m so mad I missed last night’s Cubs game. So freakin’ fun. Catch the highlights here.

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written by

Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.