Bulls guard Coby White put on a show in the comeback win in Sacramento … just don’t ask him to talk about himself and the role he played in it.
José Luis Villegas/AP
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Coby White saved his best crossover for after the game.
Following a career-high 37-point outburst in the improbable 22-point comeback win over the Kings, there sat the Bulls guard at his locker getting peppered about the latest highlight reel he had just put together.
“I” was seldom used.
For White it was about DeMar DeRozan playing Batman and closing the game out with 19 fourth-quarter points, it was a tip-out by Nikola Vucevic that kept a key possession alive, it was key minutes from rookie Julian Phillips, and it was about Alex Caruso’s newest collection of floor burns with the chaotic defense he was playing.
The education of White remained a joy to watch, and a spectator sport with no ceiling visible just yet.
“It’s amazing,” DeRozan said of White’s performance. “We all seen him have that in him, but now for him to know that he doesn’t have to worry about mistakes, missed shots, he can stay with it because at any given moment he can get it going and win us a game.
“It feels good when those moments present itself, when he can carry us to victory, get us back in the game, especially when you play off a guy like that. He got a little tired (in the fourth) and I told him before we made the comeback that I’m right there with him.”
DeRozan was and has been throughout most of White’s journey.
When it was tough for the league and his own organization to see what White would become — evident by the fact that the Bulls let him get to the brink of restricted free agency — DeRozan has always praised the work ethic of the North Carolina guard and the idea that the work would pay off.
The Kings were just the latest victim of that.
Thirteen second-quarter points in the Monday win as the game was slipping away, 16 in the third when it felt like Sacramento was a quarter away from lighting the beams, and then eight in the fourth, stepping in when the home team finally decided to blitz and double-team DeRozan.
“It was cool, it was dope,” White said of the comeback. “I think it was a team effort. I don’t really look at it as, ‘Oh, me and Debo (DeRozan) were doing this and that.’ I look at it as a good, solid team win, and I’m proud of our team.
“I was just letting the game come to me, not force it. When my opportunities came, I wanted to take advantage of it. Didn’t want to force it. I just wanted to play in the flow of the offense.”
What can’t be understated, however, is if White can continue his ascension into a closer’s mentality, the Bulls may finally have a one-two punch at the end of games that can be trusted.
There’s no doubt that injured guard Zach LaVine was supposed to be that guy, but there’s a feeling throughout the organization that he just might not have that in his DNA. That’s why the Bulls were looking to get off of LaVine’s max contract just a year into the ink drying on it and will continue that process this offseason and into next year.
White has slowly been getting auditions to take that role, and Monday was his best performance. He even sounded like a true co-star afterward.
“The basketball court is easy, but a lot of the stuff these guys went through their entire lifetime and how they fought through it, get over it and run through that wall,” White said of the resiliency in the Bulls locker room. “Just the care in this room, that’s what creates the resiliency of this basketball team.”
Throw White in the center of that mix. Just don’t expect him to openly admit it.