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Coby White plays the ball in a matchup against the New York Knicks on February 3.
The Chicago Bulls face the Phoenix Suns on Friday night to win their fourth straight game and sixth of seven. The biggest obstacle is to contain the opposite back space and the protective rotation.
Phoenix is bringing out two of this year’s All-Stars of the Western Conference with Devin Booker and Chris Paul. While Zach LaVine is tasked with the former, it’s up to point guard Coby White in his sophomore year to look after his future Hall of Fame teammate.
Coby White on his relationship with Chris Paul: « We’re still standing pretty close. That’s still a big brother. That’s family. «
On the pitch? « All of that is fading. We both scored a goal when we went out there and that should help our team win. »
White sounds prepared to face someone he’s admittedly with has a close relationship. And that doesn’t just come from a place of competitiveness. The 21-year-old has an outstanding second campaign.
Chicago’s starting point averages 15.7 points, 5.2 assists and 5 rebounds per game while running a 42/35/87 shooting split. He’s played in each of the Bulls’ 31 games so far. On the other side of the floor, Paul is following his renaissance season with the Oklahoma City Thunder last year (under today’s Chicago head coach Billy Donovan) with another strong campaign.
He scores an average of 16.7 points, 8.6 assists, 4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, having achieved an efficient 48/39/96 shot split himself.
The Chicago Bulls’ defense has been insulting on several occasions this season, especially in late game situations.
In their last win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a foul by White resulted in three free throws by Ricky Rubio, which put the game into overtime Friday night’s matchup with Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns will provide a good dipstick and litmus test to see how far they have to go at this end of basketball.
Ref: https://heavy.com
