The Windy City Bulls evened the score against the Grand Rapids Gold with a 116-111 win after being on the wrong side of a crushing comeback in a Wednesday loss. Guard Caleb Grill took point for the Bulls with 26 points and seven made 3-pointers. Grand Rapids guard Curtis Jones countered with 23 points while tacking on four assists.
Two-way center Lachlan Olbrich returned to the starting five for the first time since a January matchup with the Noblesville Boom. The former NBA second-rounder teamed up with forward Mouhamadou Gueye to pair with a Windy City Bulls group that opted to run big-ball lineups to counter the Gold’s strength inside. Gueye would follow a solid Wednesday night against the Gold with 18 points and 13 rebounds, but the Bulls still fell behind in the battle on the boards. Grand Rapids still found ways to disrupt the Bulls even as they pulled out to a comfortable early lead by the end of the first quarter with nine steals and 13 blocks by game’s end.
Gold center Moses Brown, who logged 30 points on Wednesday behind a dominant night inside, would continue to bully the Bulls as he ended the night with 26 points and 20 rebounds. The Windy City brought the fight right back to the Gold as they continuously hammered the paint with two-handed slams and close-range layups. The Bulls would end the game with 58 points in the paint and 56 rebounds, including 18 on offense, behind the efforts of their two new starters. While the Windy City still left a few things to be desired from the 3-point line, they still barely outpaced Grand Rapids with a 27.9% clip to the Gold’s 26.3%.
The Windy City holds a record of 6-8 against Eastern Conference opponents in the regular season following the Thursday win, while Grand Rapids fell to a record of 7-13. The Bulls will continue to battle conference opponents until an early-March matchup with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who rock a regular-season record of 13-6 and a 4-game win streak following a Thursday victory of their own.
The Bulls will move on to battle Raptors 905 in two bouts on their home turf. The Windy City has yet to face the Toronto Raptors affiliate this season, but split their regular-season series last year behind two solid scoring nights from now-Cleveland Charge forward Emanuel Miller. Raptors 905 exited Thursday’s round of bouts with the G League’s top-rated defense, which was made all the more formidable after it hold its opponents to under 100 points seven times during the regular season and 11 as a whole.
The Bulls will face Raptors 905 at 6:30 p.m. CST on Feb. 20 in NOW Arena. The game will be broadcast on Chicago Sports Network.
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