Westerlund: Gasol-Mirotic Pairing Flashing Its Strength
By Cody Westerlund--
CHICAGO (CBS) – As the Pelicans feigned to play defense early in the second half of a preseason contest they would eventually win 123-115 on Monday night at the United Center, a sequence of Bulls possessions remained telling.
In five trips down the floor to open the third quarter, Chicago big men Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic turned recent Bulls orthodoxy upside down by setting all of a single foot in the paint. Down the floor they went, Mirotic spotting deep on the right wing on one sequence before flashing off a pick for a 3-point attempt on the left wing on another. As his teammate roamed 25 feet from the hoop, Gasol manned positions anywhere from the top of the key to near the 3-point arc in the corner. Only once – on a dive off a pick-and-roll by Mirotic – did a big man find a foot in the paint offensively for a near three-minute stretch.
The result of this quintet of possessions? That would be an efficient nine points for the Bulls, with a missed free throw in there to boot. While the success had plenty to do with the lack of effort defensively from New Orleans and this example was somewhat extreme, the spacing was all at once reflective of Chicago's new brand of offense.
There are times when the paint will simply be flyover territory, reserved just for cutters and drivers.
"If we're making shots and we feel things are going that way, we're going to try and convert and maximize it," Gasol said.
Early in his reign as Bulls coach, there are no two words Fred Hoiberg has stressed more than "pace" and "space." He wants a lot of both, so much so that those of the first two objectives written on the whiteboard in the locker room.
It's only been four largely meaningless preseason games with a rotation that's half-ambulatory, but some of the Bulls' best basketball has come in the first quarters of their past two games. Chicago hung 34 points on Minnesota in the opening 12 minutes on Saturday evening, then scored 37 points Tuesday evening against New Orleans in the first frame.
A common thread in those two games is that the Gasol-Mirotic pairing started both after Gasol rested the first two preseason games. When they play together, it follows that the Bulls' spacing is at its best (though it should be noted Mirotic was scoreless in five minutes of first-quarter action Tuesday, so the execution wasn't stellar).
Even for a casual observer, this is easy to see.
"We're just getting a feel for what the system's going to be, the positions we're going to be in, where the shots are going to come from and kind of get an understanding," Gasol said. "The good thing is the ball is moving pretty well, and we're getting a lot of open looks."
Chicago seeks this spacing because it either leads to quality 3-point attempts – the Bulls were 11-of-32 on Tuesday, the third time in four games they've attempted 30 or more – or makes it mighty difficult, with the right reads and ball movement, for a scrambling defense to recover after an initial defender is beat.
In terms of on-court personnel management, the choice of how to stagger the minutes of his big men looms large large for Hoiberg. What pair should start? What pair should log longer stretches together? What pair should finish?
On Tuesday, Gasol had 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, and Mirotic scored nine points on 2-of-8 shooting. While Mirotic struggled from the floor, including 0-of-5 on 3-pointers, the duo has already proved it can create the space for the Bulls to flourish as a group.
"They're good," Hoiberg said of Gasol and Mirotic playing together. "That's two games in a row we've gotten off to very good starts with those two guys out there on the floor together."
Hoiberg insists he won't make any decisions until he sees more combinations of his big men together. He should start getting more returns Wednesday, when Joakim Noah (left knee) and Taj Gibson (left ankle) are expected to return as the Bulls host the Pistons.
At that point, it will be up to Noah and Gibson to prove how they best fit in, because Gasol and Mirotic are already flashing their strengths.
"There's a lot of combinations out there," Hoiberg said.
"We'll get a good opportunity these next few games to experiment."
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
