Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic return, help lift Bulls past Hornets

CHICAGO — Once Bulls guard Zach LaVine finished up his usual shooting routine on the court Friday morning after shootaround, he approached the lectern in front of reporters who had assembled and smiled.

“I’m back, man,” LaVine said hours before making his return after missing 17 games with a foot injury.

LaVine came off the bench and played 30 minutes in Friday night’s 104-91 win over the Charlotte Hornets, scoring 11 points on 6-of-11 shooting with five rebounds and four assists. It was his first game since Nov. 28.

“Couple times guys told me to shoot it, obviously they know what I do,” LaVine said after the game. “I just wanted to feel my way into the game. I missed a little bit more than a month. I can pick up offensively when I need to, but I wanted to just get up and down the court a couple times.”

The Bulls also got center Nikola Vucevic back in the lineup Friday after he missed five games with a sore right foot. But the Bulls were still shorthanded, playing without guard Alex Caruso (neck) and Patrick Williams (ankle).

Vucevic logged 25 minutes, also as a reserve, and scored 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting with seven rebounds. He was on a minutes restriction Friday night but did not expect to remain limited much longer, saying he could come off his restriction and rejoin the starting lineup as soon as next game.

The Bulls picked up where they left off even with LaVine back in the lineup, winning by sharing the ball and committing to defense, holding the Hornets to under 100 points. They had 29 assists as a team, and five players finished with double-digit scoring, led by Coby White, who had 22 points.

“We played with a lot of energy offensively,” Vucevic said. “We were very decisive. We were sharing the ball. Whenever we got stops, we were able to run and get some easy ones as well. Played the right way definitely, but our decisions were quick. And we were playing off each other well. Whenever we do that, we can be a great offensive team.”

In LaVine’s absence, Chicago started to turn its season around, going 10-7 entering Friday to position itself at the bottom of the Eastern Conference play-in race.

The Bulls ranked 21st in offense (114.5 points per 100 possessions) and sixth in defense (113.3 points per 100 possessions) in that 17-game span, compared with 26th in offense (108.9) and 22nd in defense (116.0) during a 5-14 start with LaVine. However, LaVine had been off to one of the worst starts of his career, averaging 21 points per game while shooting 44.3%, his lowest marks since his first year in Chicago in 2017-18 when he was coming off ACL surgery.

“They caught a great rhythm in December, doing the same things we were working on in training camp,” LaVine said before Friday’s game. “It was great to see it actually start clicking. Run, play hard, take open shots and try to create for others is the main thing I’ve been looking at.

“It takes a while for a lot of that stuff to come into fruition. … I’m excited to be with my guys, especially at a time where things started clicking and the vibes are a lot better.”