‘Caru-Show’ back on the air, as Bulls sparked by Alex Caruso’s return

The clapping and excitement started a slow rumble throughout the United Center just before the timeout.

Alex Caruso had made his way to the scorer’s table with 6:31 left in the first quarter, set to make his first appearance since Grayson Allen derailed his season with a flagrant-2 back in January, fracturing Caruso’s right wrist.

By the time the timeout came and went, and Caruso officially took the floor, the clapping turned into a standing ovation.

The Caru-Show was back on the air.

Thanks to four steals and the disruptive defense that has become his brand, as well as 11 points in 29 minutes of work, Caruso helped spark the Bulls to a dominant performance over the Cavaliers on Saturday, beating them 101-91.

Not bad for a guy on a minutes restriction, and was considered an “unknown” by his own coach because of all the time he’s missed this season.

“He’s only played in 28 games, and the one thing that’s been difficult is when he did kind of get back from that foot sprain and then he got Covid, it’s just kind of been really choppy for him – a game here, a game there,” Donovan said. “Certainly getting him back gives you a jolt, there’s no question about that, but I just don’t know where he’s at, he hasn’t played in so long. It always takes a little bit of time for these guys to get back into a rhythm, get into a flow. There hasn’t been a lot of necessarily five-on-five for him.”

Not that Caruso looked like he needed it, far from easing into his all-too familiar role of causing a defensive frenzy.

He stepped on the floor with the Bulls down a point and looking sluggish against a short-handed Cleveland team, and by the time his first stint was over the home team was up eight, with the entire team suddenly playing disruptive defense.

Call it the Caruso Effect.

“He had a major impact, just having another competitor out there,” rookie Ayo Dosunmu said. “He makes [defense] easier for a lot of us. He’s a veteran, he’s won, he’s played in those high-level games. You have that and it boosts the entire team moral.”

Cleveland found that out first hand, trying to figure out what happened to those warm feelings early on, entering the halftime locker room down 11 and searching.

“His IQ to see things happening as it’s developing, and to be able to jump into passing lanes and recognize and read, we become obviously much more disruptive,” Donovan said. “And like I’ve said, there were some things in his absence that I thought we could control better. We still have to control it.”

The Bulls held Cleveland to 36.7% shooting in that first half, turned them over eight times, and outrebounded them 26-18. It wasn’t just Caruso that pitched in on the defensive end, either. Dosunmu, who had two rough meetings against All-Star Darius Garland earlier this season, held Garland to just six points on 2-of-12 shooting.

Garland did get loose in the second half, finishing with 25 points, but the Bulls kept the Cavaliers off balance most of the night.

And even without Zach LaVine, who was dealing with left knee discomfort, the Bulls had more than enough offense, led by DeMar DeRozan’s 25 points, as well as 20 points and 14 rebounds from Nikola Vucevic.

Bigger picture?

The Bulls (41-26) needed the win with the current climate in the Eastern Conference, holding down the No. 4 seed, just behind Philadelphia and a half-game ahead of idle Boston.

“Excited to just play basketball again,” Caruso said of his return. “At the end of the day you give up 91 points in the NBA, you can be happy with that performance.”