Coby White has fun with Hawks’ defense, career-best night
Coby White has fun with Hawks’ defense, career-best night originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
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Coby White authored the night of his NBA life 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 wound down.
His 42 points marked the most he has scored in an NBA game, but technically, it’s not a career-high night because Play-In statistics don’t count. The games are neither regular-season nor playoff games.
White doesn’t care.
“It was a dope moment for that to happen. I’m thankful for the fans. It felt like a playoff vibe. The place was rocking tonight,” he said. “And I’m definitely counting it as my career-high. It’s on the stat sheet right here.”
White’s coaches and teammates shared in his joy.
“Phenomenal player,” Ayo Dosunmu said. “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 anytime he has a performance like that, I’m not surprised. But I’m happy and excited that on this platform, people can see what type of player he is.”
Dosunmu added nine rebounds and six assists and sank his first 10 shots in the paint. He shot 15-for-21 overall.
“He did a good job playing aggressively, took his 3s when they were there. And he made a lot of good passes to guys. I thought he played a really complete game. I know the number 42 is a huge game and really phenomenal. But I thought he played a really complete game,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought he defended. I thought he assisted, got downhill, made the game easy for guys.”
DeMar DeRozan joked that White “did alright, could’ve been a little better.” But growing serious, DeRozan said the team focused pregame on starting aggressively. And White played the first quarter like he had been shot out of a cannon.
“We just wanted to play with pace, get downhill,” White said. “Ayo does that every game,…
