Andre Drummond’s huge game leads Bulls past Hawks – NBC Sports Chicago

Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich

The Chicago Bulls improved to 3-1 on this homestand with a 118-113 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night at the United Center.

Here are 10 observations:

—Before the game, coach Billy Donovan said Nikola Vučević will be out for at least the short term with a strained left groin. That meant Andre Drummond drew his first start as a Bull. Drummond owned 630 career starts before Tuesday night, most of them from his All-Star days with the Detroit Pistons. But Tuesday marked the first time Drummond heard public address announcer Tim Sinclair’s familiar “man in the middle” call for the starting center.

—Drummond made his first rotational turn count. He scored six points, including an alley-oop dunk from DeMar DeRozan and two putbacks off offensive rebounds. Drummond also emphatically blocked Clint Capela’s hook.

—Donovan also said he’d utilize small-ball lineups to try to weather Vučević’s absence. Donovan often has favored such lineups, dating to his habit of playing since-departed Derrick Jones Jr. at center. Against the Hawks, Donovan played seldom-used Terry Taylor, who stands 6 feet, 5 inches, as a small-ball center. Patrick Williams also could see some time at the backup center.

—For the third straight game, the Bulls started slowly from 3-point range, missing their first six attempts. But Jevon Carter sank two and Ayo Dosunmu sank one in a flurry over the final 1 minute, 27 seconds of the first quarter. Carter has struggled from distance of late but that hasn’t stopped his preferred approach of launching open 3-pointers in transition. His second make fit that description. Nevertheless, the Bulls finished just 7-for-25 from beyond the arc.

—DeRozan recorded four assists before posting his first points, which came on two free throws with 3:04 left in the first half. DeRozan missed his first four field goals before making his first at the 1:14 mark of the second quarter. DeRozan has talked about wanting to get others involved early and then becoming more aggressive late if the game calls for that. But with Zach LaVine and Vucevic out, the Bulls could’ve used more offense from DeRozan early, even if he drew effusive praise for how he’s playing from Donovan. Case in point: He scored 10 points in the third as the Bulls got back into the game. And then DeRozan scored 11 points in the fourth, closing out the game in style.

The Bulls placed six scorers in double figures.

“It makes my job easier going into the fourth quarter,” DeRozan said. “Those guys look to me to close out the game. Sometimes not necessarily scoring but playmaking and trying to make the right decisions. It’s fun. There’s never a game where I feel like I gotta get up X amount of shots or whatever. I trust those guys. And I know when they give me the look, it’s time for me to do my part.”

—Alex Caruso posted his 200^th steal in his 134^th game as a Bull, per…