Josh Giddey scored a team-high 21 points, five Chicago reserves combined for 58 more and the Bulls held off the host Orlando Magic 110-98 on Saturday night for a second straight season-opening win.
Jalen Smith and Ayo Dosunmu led the Chicago bench crew with 16 and 15 points, respectively, helping the Bulls’ backups outscore their Magic counterparts 58-35.
The Bulls’ reserves were outscored 50-35 by the Detroit bench in their opening win over the Pistons on Wednesday.
Starters Nikola Vucevic (15 points) and Tre Jones (13), and reserves Patrick Williams (12) and Kevin Huerter (11) made it seven players — including four backups — in double figures for the Bulls, who outshot the hosts 47.0% to 39.1% overall and 37.0% to 12.5% on 3-pointers.
Despite 7-for-21 shooting, Paolo Banchero was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points for the Magic, who lost at home for the second consecutive night. They dropped a 111-107 decision to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Banchero also grabbed 10 rebounds to complete a double-double.
The Bulls never trailed in the second half but found themselves clinging to an 88-85 advantage in the fourth minute of the final period before Dosunmu and Smith drilled consecutive 3-pointers to balloon the lead to nine.
With Dosunmu bombing in two more 3-pointers, the Bulls never let the Magic closer than seven after that.
Dosunmu finished 3-for-4 on threes, matching the Orlando team total.
Giddey also found time to share team rebounding honors with Vucevic with eight, while Jones complemented his 13 points with a game-high eight assists and five steals.
Four different Chicago reserves made at least half their shots, led by Smith’s 6-for-8 and Williams’ 5-for-7.
Wendell Carter Jr. led all rebounders with 13 for the Magic to go with eight points, while Anthony Black put up 19 points and Franz Wagner 17.
Desmond Bane added 14 points for Orlando but missed both his 3-point attempts. The Magic went just 3-for-24 from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
