Three takeaways: Lemon and Luwawu-Cabarrot combine for 37 PTS in loss

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The Bulls took on the Kawhi Leonard-less Raptors at the UC on Saturday night, falling behind early and losing big (124-101) despite some solid scoring from their bench unit.

With Walter Lemon Jr. putting up some solid minutes in his first NBA stint this year and the Bulls continuing to play hard despite dealing with a litany of injuries, there was some solid takeaways from their loss on Saturday night.

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot makes history.....sort of

TLC has not had many huge scoring nights as a Bulls, so his third double-digit scoring effort of the month definitely deserves some recognition. But it was much more than just a solid scoring effort.

Luwawu made history--we know, we know, not crazy history, but still a first--collecting his first career double double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He wasn’t extremely aggressive attacking the basket but was feeling it from deep against the Raptors, knocking down 4/9 from 3PT range.

He has a 6’11’’ wingspan and while he wasn’t crazy active in the passing lanes, he gave a solid effort in trying to protect the rim for the undersized Bulls. Luwawu ended the night with two blocks of the Bulls six blocks, helping lead the charge for the Bulls undersized lineup. His effort level was contagious.

The Bulls got up 30 3PT shots on the night, four more than their season average and Luwawu was a big part of their somewhat out of character aggressiveness from deep.

Over his last 10 games, Luwawu is shooting a scorching hot 43.5 percent from the 3PT line. He is a career 32.3 percent 3PT shooter, so that percentage will obviously regress to the mean at some point. But if Luwawu can maintain a 3PT percentage above 35 percent down the stretch--currently at 36.2 percent from 3 as a Bull--he can head into the offseason with a solid shot of sticking in the Bulls rotation come next season.

Welcome to the Walt Lemon Jr. show

Walter Lemon Jr. was signed to the Bulls for the rest of the season on March 28 and figures to get a ton of run as the Bulls close the book on the 2018-19 season. And with the way he played on Saturday night, it is no wonder Jim Boylen is looking to give him a start sooner than later.

The Chicago-native played 31 minutes and shot 8/15 from the floor, hitting three of his five free throws on the evening. Lemon showed a tremendous amount of ability when given a straight-line drive to the basket.

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Perhaps the most impressive part of Lemon’s night was his playmaking ability. He racked up four steals, six assists and finished with only one turnover. He tied for the team lead in minutes played and even got a double technical foul with Kyle Lowry (the first tech of Lemon’s career), an eventful night for the 26-year old guard.

Lemon’s great ball handling ability, shiftiness in the tight spaces and determination when attacking the basket make him an intriguing low-risk flier for the Bulls front office should he return to the team in 2019-20.

Windy City Bulls alums galore

On the night, there were five Windy City Bulls alumni to take the floor and six if you include Cristiano Felicio, who has had stints in the NBA G League as well.

It was a great opportunity for these players to showcase themselves for not just the Bulls, but the rest of the league as well. Brandon Sampson’s shot wasn’t falling, but he played hard on defense and collected one of the more exciting plays of the game.

Sampson finished with a well-rounded stat line, netting 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in only 22 minutes of playing time. For a player whose NBA career will likely depend on his ability to drain open 3 PT shots, it was very encouraging to see him give maximum effort in other areas on a night like Saturday when he was clearly laboring out there.

Ryan Arcidiacono and Cristiano Felicio had quiet nights, combining for 12 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists. Antonio Blakeney--he of the career 31.2 PPG NBA G League scoring average--racked up points and field goal attempts in a hurry.

Rawle Alkins played solid on the night as well, with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. His all around game helped make up for a lack of shooting, which is the last part of his game he needs to figure out to truly stick in the league.

It was a solid night for the Windy City Bulls program, with fellow players even coming out to show support.

Even without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup, the Raptors were obviously going to be an extremely tough matchup for this specific version of the Bulls. It only took one quarter for things to get out of hand, but it was still great to see a group of players fighting for spots in the NBA give it their all in this late regular season matchup for the lottery-bound Bulls.

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