White scores 21 and Bulls rally to beat Blazers

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Zach LaVine was blunt: The Chicago Bulls of the recent past wouldn’t have come back to beat the Trail Blazers like this.

The short-handed Bulls rebounded from a 20-point firsthalf deficit to down Portland 111-108 on Tuesday night.

Coby White had 21 points and a careerhigh 10 rebounds, while Otto Porter Jr. added 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Bulls had seven players in double figures.

“We didn’t stop playing,” said LaVine, who finished with 18 points and nine assists. “After the first quarter, they came out hitting a lot of tough shots. It’s not like we were playing bad, it just happens in a game. We got to a timeout and we just said we’re going to keep playing regardless, and we got back into it.”

Asked point-blank if it was a game last season’s Bulls would have won, LaVine emphatically said “No.”

CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 26 points, including six 3-pointers. Damian Lillard had 24 points and nine assists.

The Blazers led by as many as 20 points early in the game, but the Bulls chipped away at the lead, tying it in the fourth quarter at 91 on Porter’s 3-pointer. Garrett Temple’s 3 gave the Bulls a 96-94 lead with 6:36 left.

Portland went up 100-98 lead on Carmelo Anthony’s 3-pointer before Chicago rookie Patrick Williams’ floater tied it again with 4:12 to go. Porter’s pull-up jumper made it 104100 with just over three minutes left.

Lillard was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all his free throws, pulling Portland within 106-103. He added two free throws with 30.8 seconds left to narrow the gap further.

LaVine’s step-back 3-pointer appeared to be the winner for Chicago — until Lillard made a 3 to get the Blazers within a point again with 5.7 seconds to go. White made a pair of free throws in the final moments and Portland fell short.

“I think the guys just had a real good disposition when we were down about what we had to do to get back in the game,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said.

The Blazers (3-4) were coming off a 137-122 loss to Golden State on Sunday. Golden State’s Stephen Curry scored a career-high 62 points against Portland.

“Make no mistake. We didn’t shoot the ball in the fourth quarter,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “We lost this in the second half. Chicago out played us, they played harder than us. We let down our guard and gave up 66 points in the second half after having an outstanding first half defensively.”

After going 0-3 to start the season, the Bulls have improved with wins in four of their last five games, including a 118108 victory over the Mavericks, paced by LaVine’s 39 points.

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“When that adverLillard became the sity hits and there are 18th player in NBA momentum swings, history to reach 1,800 it’s no reason to career 3s. hang your head and get down,” Donovan