Coby White has fun with Hawks defense, best night of his career originally appeared in NBC Sports Chicago
Presented by National Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
Coby White authored the night of a lifetime in the NBA on Wednesday, drawing chants of “Co-by! Co-by!” from the United Center faithful as the Chicago Bulls’ Play-In victory over the Atlanta Hawks ended.
His 42 points marked the most he’s scored in an NBA game, but technically it’s not a career-high night because Play-In stats don’t count. The games are not regular season or playoff games.
White doesn’t care.
“It was an amazing time for this to happen. I’m grateful to the fans. It felt like a playoff vibe. The place was rocking tonight,” he said. “And I’m definitely counting this as the highlight of my career. It’s on the stat sheet here.”
White’s coaches and teammates shared his joy.
“Phenomenal player,” said Ayo Dosunmu. “His attitude, his demeanor, everything about him, I loved it – his work ethic. I’ve seen him put a lot of work into his game. So whenever he puts in a performance like that, I’m not surprised. But I’m happy and excited because in this platform people can see what kind of player he is.”
Dosunmu added nine rebounds and six assists and made his first 10 shots from the box. He shot 15 of 21 overall.
“He did a good job playing aggressively, got his 3s when they were there. And he made a lot of good passes to the guys. But I thought he played a really complete game,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought he defended. I thought he helped, came down, made the game easier for the guys.”
DeMar DeRozan joked that White “did well, could have been a little better.” But getting serious, DeRozan said the team focused before the game on starting aggressively. And White played the first quarter as if they had been shot from a cannon.
“We just wanted to play with tempo, get downhill,” White said. “Ayo does it every game, so it’s not out of the ordinary for him. But we knew that if we attacked the paint and caused the defense to collapse, we needed to finish or spray.
“I’m very grateful. That first playoff series I had in my career didn’t go the way I wanted. Last year, I played better in the play-in. And then this year, I didn’t. I went into the game saying I was going to put the team (on my back). But I just wanted to be aggressive and take what the defense gave me.”
Even if it’s not a career highlight. It’s a victory.
