Zach LaVine was having fun with it.
While the media was starting to gather around fellow guard Coby White’s locker after the Bulls’ victory Monday against the Spurs, LaVine still was breaking down the team’s dunk of the year, which had taken place about a half-hour before.
‘‘Two,’’ LaVine said, holding up two fingers off to White’s side.
Sure, White’s poster dunk over shot-blocker extraordinaire Victor Wembanyama was worth only two points, but that’s not what the two fingers meant. It was only White’s second dunk of the season.
But what a two they have been.
There was the nasty slam White executed over 7-footer Mark Williams in the fourth quarter of a close game last week against the Hornets, then there was the violent one-hander over the 7-3 Wembanyama with the game hanging in the balance.
So why is White not putting more opposing players on posters? It’s all in the legs.
‘‘Nah,’’ White said with a laugh when he was asked if he’s saving his dunks. ‘‘You see the pace we’re playing at? I get tired. For real. I get tired.’’
White had a point, especially considering the Bulls rank third in the NBA in pacing at 104.52 possessions per game, trailing only the Grizzlies and Hawks. The big difference is that those teams aren’t strangers to getting the ball up and down the court. The Hawks were sixth in pacing last season and the Grizzlies 17th after a slow start.
The Bulls? They were 28th at 96.94 possessions per game.
For White, it’s not about ‘‘can’t’’ when it comes to dunking; it’s about capturing the moment.
‘‘Two points is two points,’’ White said. ‘‘The one in Charlotte, Mark Williams had, like, [three] blocks that game. If I don’t dunk it, maybe he’s going to block it. And then [against Wembanyama], same thing: ‘If I don’t dunk it . . . .’ And both came in a crucial part of the game.
‘‘For me, I don’t got the effortless bounce like Zach, Julian [Phillips], Pat [Williams], those types of guys. I got power, but I gotta jump.’’
Then White pointed to his arms, reminding everyone he doesn’t have the wingspan of many great dunkers.
‘‘See these arms?’’ White asked. ‘‘I don’t have the wingspan. I gotta jump. I actually gotta jump.’’
And while most players in the Bulls’ locker room thought the dunk over Wembanyama was the best of White’s career, he quickly dismissed that idea.
‘‘Nah, I think the best one was probably last year,’’ White said, referring to the play-in game against the Hawks at the United Center. ‘‘I think that was the loudest the United Center’s ever been since I got here.’’
It just so happened that White also finished with 42 points in that game, so he did a lot of things well.
Is there a dunk contest in his future?
‘‘Never,’’ White said without hesitation.
But almost loss in all the dunk talk was something White mentioned he is hoping will be the case moving forward. The style the Bulls are playing offensively leads to a lot of good things. White said he thinks the dunks, three-pointers and up-tempo game might be attractive in terms of luring players to the Bulls.
‘‘I think any basketball player would want to play in this system,’’ White said. ‘‘Who doesn’t want to play fast, get up and down, get open shots, be able to attack in transition and then have the freedom to make plays offensively where everybody gets the ball and has opportunities?’’
And dunk, of course.