The New Colossus is a famous poem that worked its way onto the iconic symbol that dominates New York Harbor while also welcoming those yearning for change.
“Give me your tired, your poor shooters” it starts out…”the wretched small mismatches to the teeming shore…”
So maybe that’s not what’s actually written on the base of the Statue of Liberty, but it was the reality of the Bulls Wednesday who like so many yearning before them peered at the New York skyline, which this time consisted too much of Isaiah Hartenstein with a career-best 20 rebounds, burly 6-foot-8 Julius Randle knocking aside Alex Caruso and the like for 35 points and a decisive 12 in the fourth quarter, and wily Jalen Brunson with 31 points and 13 assists. The result was a pugnacious early effort from the Bulls that ended in a tempest tossed 116-100 Bulls defeat.
Talk about lifting a lamp besides a golden door. For the Bulls, it better have Zach LaVine, Nikola Vučević and Torrey Craig walking through it for before things really get away from the 15-21 Bulls.
“Not to make an excuse, but we miss a lot of critical guys at a critical time,” said DeMar DeRozan, who led the Bulls with 28 points. “We’ve all been doing our part, hold down the fort as best as we can. But it’s come to the point where we’re missing other guys that can contribute, more bodies that we can throw out there. We need the rest of the troops, that type of feeling. We’ve been competing our butts off, but those stints like tonight. That’s when you wish you had a guy out there like Vooch [Nikola Vučević], TC [Torrey Craig], Zach [LaVine] to kind of shift the game a little bit for us.”
LaVine could return Friday when the Bulls host Charlotte in the United Center and perhaps Vučević not long afterward. Craig is supposed to be out an extended time.
And the small ball Bulls really could have used Vučević with Hartenstein’s breakout game. But even more so for his offensive contributions scoring and moving the ball and defensive IQ. Substitute Andre Drummond is doing his best and had good numbers again with 13 points and 16 rebounds, but his statistics often belie the impact.
The Knicks repeatedly forced him into pick and roll situations in which he often was caught in the middle, leaving Hartenstein to finish with dunks or leaving Knicks with easy floaters and pullups. There was one play toward the end of the first half when Caruso seemed to be telling Drummond he had to pick up someone on a Brunson three. That was just after Caruso’s three gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game at 54-44.
Then early in the second half, Bulls coach Billy Donovan called a quick timeout after Drummond picked up on a screen. But Hartenstein rolled uncontested for a dunk in another apparent miscommunication. But then when Drummond went out it got worse and perhaps was the consequential sequence when 6-foot-4 Terry Taylor returned to center and the Knicks ripped off six straight points that turned a two-point New York lead with 8:29 left in the game into 99-91 about a minute later. That included one Knicks possession with three offensive rebounds that ended with an OG Anunoby dunk. The Knicks then pulled away against a weary Bull team finishing consecutive nights in Philadelphia and New York.
“Most definitely (missed Vučević),” said DeRozan. “Stretching the floor, being able to have a post scorer, someone like in a game like tonight, we definitely would’ve fed it to the post in to Vooch and let him go at their big. Given him some trouble. With Vooch down there to be able to throw the ball, even coming off screens, guys like me and Coby [White] and the rest of the guys, you got to be able to pay attention to Vooch if you’re running or he is popping. Him stretching the floor. He kind of changes the dynamics of the game, so we definitely missed that a lot.
“We stayed with them defensively and offensively,” said DeRozan, who faced constant traps in the second half after embracing the Madison Square Garden spotlight with 19 first-half points.
He’s made it everywhere, so he knows he can make it there. Spread the news, though we’re sure the NBA knows.
“Second half they picked it up,” DeRozan acknowledged. “We turned the ball over and didn’t see shots normally like we wanted (against more aggressive defense), and they took advantage of it. We couldn’t get a rebound; that kind of hurt us. Just the whole dynamic of the game kind of shifted for us in the second half.”
White broke out of his 3-of-31 three-point shooting slump to flush 6-of-9 triples for 26 points. Caruso added 13 points. But Jevon Carter and Ayo Dosunmu continued to slump with their threes, Carter 0-for-3 and 10 for his last 35 and Dosunmu 1-for-6 and 5-of-27 on threes his last seven games. The Bulls did rebound — shooting, at least — at 41% on threes thanks to White. Though he did have to step back and take several long ones against Knicks’ pressure. The Knicks led 52-39 on the boards with 18 second-chance points and 54-36 in paint points with Randle and Brunson breaking down the ramparts.
“I was pleased with the way we came out today more so than last night,” said Donovan. “We didn’t make enough plays tonight. We made plays in the first half, but we weren’t able to make them in the second half. I thought we hurt them in transition. And we had some opportunities in transition later on, but we didn’t finish. We also generated some open looks, but we didn’t finish those, either. Randle had a much better second half than he did the first half. I think when we had opportunities to make plays we just didn’t make enough, especially when we got it back down to three in the fourth quarter.”
Though it was much to ask with three of the top six rotation players missing — yes, I am counting LaVine there despite recent narratives — and the Bulls entering a road heavy stretch of games. They get something of a break with two ahead with Charlotte and the Spurs in the next 10 days. But it’s also racing to the trade deadline and questions of whose liberty might be next; if anyone’s.
“It is a tough schedule,” White agreed. “But in that fourth I feel like we did not make enough winning plays that we have been normally making; we didn’t make enough shots. We were down a couple of guys and that’s going to happen. But good teams figure out a way to win. So we’ve got to figure out ways to win and win those types of games. Z, Craig, Vooch, guys who have been out who play key roles, are veterans in this league and know how to win. Obviously, that would help. Right now this is the hand we’re dealt. So we’ve got to come up with ways to make those plays down the stretch and not let fatigue come into play.”
Though maybe Zach LaVine is coming through that door.
It was another halting start for the Bulls, trailing 15-8 behind an ambivalent Patrick Williams.
The physical forward was not expected to play after exacerbating his ankle problem against the 76ers. So credit to him when many NBA players, especially on a back-to-back, would opt for rest and extra pregame knishes and cheesecake (it is New York).
Williams persevered, but it seemed apparent he wasn’t moving well starting the game with a missed dunk try and turnover. He finished with five points in 27 laborious minutes. Dosunmu missed a pair of breakaway layups with Hartenstein challenging everything. But White’s breakout shooting enabled the Bulls to get within 26-24 after one quarter. You also could see the way DeRozan was embracing his New York minute with 10 second-quarter points and 8-of-10 by halftime. Thibs appeared to notice, also.
The Bulls were active, but the Knicks also seemed to think they had more point guards than Brunson with 13 first half turnovers. The game debuted ABC-TV’s national NBA Wednesday games. Commentator and former player J.J. Redick on the broadcast called the Knicks first half the worst passing first half ever in the NBA. The media world is about hot takes. Redick didn’t appear to have analytics to back up his claim.
The Bulls stayed right with it after halftime with a daring and impactful Caruso defensive series that included a block for a fast break score and steal in the next possession. But DeRozan got just two shots in 10 minutes, and it was too much to also ask Caruso, as the Bulls were, to control the physical Randle. Randle made 5-of-6 mostly inside shots in the third to give the Knicks an 86-78 lead going into the final quadrant.
White gave the Bulls some light and perhaps inspiration and hope with a pair of threes to open the fourth, and DeRozan chipped in with his third before the double could get to him. But in the end the Bulls were too small, too thinned of talent and too huddled to experience the breath of victory even as they yearned and competed for the ideals of success.
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