Bulls Notes: Josh Giddey, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Noa Essengue

The Bulls nearly coughed up back-to-back losses. Instead, they stormed back from 24 down Tuesday night to beat the Sixers, 113-111.

Per ESPN’s Jamal Collier, it’s the biggest comeback in the NBA so far this season. Chicago is now 6-1.

Josh Giddey was the engine. The former restricted free agent — who finally got his four-year, $100 million deal this summer — delivered his second straight triple-double with 29 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists. He’s the first Bull since Michael Jordan to do that in back-to-back games.

“Tonight was one of the best wins that I’ve ever been a part of,” Giddey said, via Collier. “Just in terms of how bad we were down that early in the third. And to gut that one out and dig ourselves out of the hole that we did was unbelievable.”

Veteran big Nikola Vucevic hit the game-winner, but echoed a message the whole locker room understands.

“It’s important that we understand this is not how you can become a good team by getting down 20 and then waking up,” Vucevic said. “We have to play better from the beginning.”

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Coby White is still a couple weeks away from returning from a calf strain. Head coach Billy Donovan said that White is sprinting and cutting at full speed but the Bulls won’t rush it, via The Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe.

Donovan has also hammered home the need for team-first basketball — given that seven Bulls are in contract years, as relayed by Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“There’s a level of unselfishness [we needed] where you can start thinking about others — other than yourself, certainly — when your situation is uncertain going forward,” Donovan said. “Like I told those guys, [free agency] will get here in July. Why worry or think about that when you have things in front of you now? We don’t have a team that can [isolate] or guys just go get theirs. We’ve got to rely on each other.”

Meanwhile, rookie forward Noa Essengue was recalled after three days with Windy City. Donovan said he expects plenty of development reps this season between Chicago and the G League.