There’s been considerable conventional wisdom which has been worth questioning. Everyone once believed the Earth was flat, and now only Kyrie Irving does. We once heard about Mrs. O’Leary’s cow being an arsonist and that Chicago became the Windy City because of a weather phenomenon. But it all eventually proved questionable.
Perhaps like the belief that this Bulls team needs a fire sale. Instead of perhaps just shoring up some of the foundation. Because Monday even as the Bulls lamentably lost 115-113 to the Phoenix Suns on a Kevin Durant there-he-goes-again with 1.6 seconds left in the game, it could easily be argued the Bulls were the better team all game long.
Just not the winning team.
Which certainly is a major distinction in sports.
But against a presumed title contender featuring three of the highest scoring players, all likely future Hall of Fame players, the Bulls led for the first 40 minutes of the game, by as much as 23 points in the third quarter. And even with Durant needing all of his season most 43 points made shot after shot for 17 fourth-quarter points, Coby White and DeMar DeRozan matched him pretty much can-you-top-this as the lead changed 11 times in the fourth quarter with four ties.
There were the usual oh-my-what-ifs with the Suns winning a challenge on a seeming DeRozan three-point play with 2:08 left that could have given the Bulls a four-point lead. And then Durant making a three with the Suns trailing 111-110 with 29.5 seconds left when the Bulls couldn’t retrieve a missed runner by backup center Drew Eubanks.
DeRozan handled that coming out of a Bulls timeout to tie the game at 113 with 22.9 seconds left.
But then there was that Durant guy.
Like the Bulls opponents used to say about that Jordan guy.
“We had all the opportunity in the world to win. Things just didn’t go our way. Kevin Durant was Kevin Durant,” sighed White, who was brilliant with 26 points, shooting 10-of-14 and 4-of-5 on threes with 10 rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
White among the likes of DeRozan, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal was the best player on the floor not named Durant.
“One of greatest players in the game, incredible what he is able to do,” said DeRozan about Durant. “But with that we still had a chance.”
Because of White with 10 fourth-quarter points, making all of his shots, twice putting the Bulls ahead after either trailing or being tied, making a three to get the Bulls into a tie with five minutes left and beating the defense and assisting a Patrick Williams three to give the Bulls their largest lead, 105-102, in the last eight minutes of the game.
Williams started again for the injured Zach LaVine. Injured Torrey Craig got a nice scoreboard tribute from his former team. Eric Gordon was out for the Suns.
“Those (Phoenix) guys are great players and DeMar along side of them will be in the Hall of Fame,” noted Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “So you are talking about players who have done it at a high level. Maybe Coby isn’t as established as those guys as far as number of years in the league. But what he’s done from his rookie year to now speaks to where he can get to; he’s been unbelievable. These guys have been multi-time All-Stars. They had the star power; our team really competed against them. In this league, (Coby’s) going to be an elite player.”
If you could ignore the result, this was as good as the NBA gets, terrific talents, pressure, clutch shot after clutch shot on both sides. It’s what makes basketball like no other with the switches in emotion from moment to moment, back and forth without caution, daring and skill and you so gobsmacked at each dare.
Durant tied the game at 4:01 with a three, White untied it with a driving score as he repeatedly with head fakes reminiscent of Elgin Baylor and hesitation dribbles and finish like Kobe Bryant beat Suns defenders with frustrating routine. After Beal’s three to give the Suns a 108-107 lead with 3:30 left, White again confounded the defense and found Nikola Vučević for a runner to give the Bulls a 109-108 lead with 3:13 left.
It was standing room only by this time as thousands of seats were unoccupied.
Durant, Williams and Beal then missed, setting up the late turning point and curiously crucial challenge.
DeRozan from the left baseline familiarly faked Grayson Allen. The 12-footer went in with an official’s tweet. Three-point play?
Allen went gesticulating madly toward the Suns bench claiming DeRozan initiated the contact. We’ve seen that often with DeRozan, but this time the officials agreed with the Suns and the potential three-pointer and 112-108 Bulls lead was waved off.
“That was bad, in my opinion,” DeRozan offered calmly as he does most everything after games. "I still thought I got fouled first. Kind of hurt us; go to free throw line the game is completely different. I felt I got the shot off and felt I was fouled before; I don’t know (why it was changed).”
Beal then gave Phoenix a 110-109 lead with 1:49 left on a drive. Durant missed, but DeRozan didn’t with his 12 footer after taking the rebound and the Bulls were back ahead 111-110 with 49.8 seconds left, the arena shaking in anticipation and appreciation. Given it was Phoenix it also felt a bit like May. It was playoff-like.
Beal missed short on a drive, but then came the coulda been for the Bulls losing the rebound back to the Suns, and Eubanks tossing back to Durant above the circle like Robert Horry for the Lakers against the Kings in that shocking playoff game 20 years ago. Durant, like Horry, buried the three and it was 113-111 Suns.
But back came the Bulls yet again with DeRozan hurrying into a 10-footer on the right side of the lane that barely rippled the netting; so 113 tie with 22.9 left.
Everyone knew it was Durant for the win or overtime.
For the win, as it were, as Durant faded left across the lane and with both Alex Caruso and Williams leaping at his right hand. Hand to God this wasn’t missing. The Bulls were left with 1.6 seconds and tried a lob play to Williams, who came in from the opposite baseline. But he was fouled. The Suns were fortunately under the limit, so the Bulls got a desperate last gasp with a second left.
DeRozan ran toward the ball and fired a little chance high arcing three while falling out of bounds. No miracle this time.
“You don’t win in the first quarter; you win in the fourth,” said White. “They are a really good team, especially offensively. They have a lot of firepower over there. They have a lot of dawgs over there. Their three stars all compete. They never are going to give up. They turned up their physicality on both ends. They started getting to their spots more. A lot of their shots today weren’t hitting in the first half. They started falling in the second half. The crowd gets into it. We couldn’t weather the storm enough when they got on their run.”
“It don’t matter (how we played). At the end of the day it’s about winning and losing in this league. And we didn’t win tonight,” reminded White. “So I don’t look at none of that. I care about wins and losses; as a unit we care about wins and losses. So this will hurt us awhile. We played so hard and fought and played so well the majority of the game. It was fun to compete. We were going to back and forth. They hit timely shots; we hit timely shots.
“Kevin Durant hit the most timely shot of the game.”
Which is the bottom line as these things go, and the Bulls went to 21-24 as they head for a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday.
But the Bulls did do so many beautiful things.
DeRozan added 21 points while Vučević had 19 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists. Caruso made 5-of-11 threes and had 15 points with three blocks, including one on Durant. Ayo Dosunmu had 13 points and consecutive steals midway through the third quarter when it looked like the Suns might be willing to set after having won six straight going in.
That third quarter actually proved the turning point of the game, but not for the Bulls. It came just after Caruso had to sit with four fouls and the Bulls leading by that game most 23. Dosunmu got one score out of those swipes, but Eubanks replaced an ineffective Jusuf Nurkić and began banging around enough that he drew a technical foul for pushing White; Andre Drummond retaliated and got one for pushing Eubanks (we don’t believe the shoves hurt much). White wound up and fouled Josh Okogie hard. He avoided a flagrant foul as he quickly made peace with buddy Okogie.
But Eubanks quickly got a pair of dunks amidst the contretemps on Durant drives and passes. And the Bulls began settling a bit too much for shots without much moving the defense as they did famously the first half in dominating 66-49. By the end of the third quarter, it was possible again for the Suns trailing just 90-83.
“That’s where I thought we gave them a lot of momentum,” admitted Donovan. “That stretch was tough. We didn’t score, we didn’t stop them, it got physical. No question the momentum of the game changed during that time. I would have liked to have had Alex in there. I played Patrick Williams way too many minutes; played him the whole third quarter all the way through. I didn’t feel there was another solution with Kevin out there and I was worried about bringing Alex out and picking up his fifth since we were still up at that point going into the fourth, up seven; we still were kind of in control.”
Though not as the Bulls were earlier in a first half, and especially a first quarter they might be able to sell as a basketball clinic.
The Bulls made 7-of-14 threes, White and Caruso three each. They shot 65% with 12 assists on 15 baskets, 11-5 on the boards and Suns players not named Durant, Booker or Beal looking desperately for one of those three to save them. The Suns do have a potentially impressive offense, but their fatal flaw could be pretty much everyone else seems almost fearful of shooting. It was Durant’s second consecutive game of at least 40 points to generate a win. They needed them all, and that’s not sustainable.
Though if you hadn’t read the names and stats you would have fingered the Bulls as the title contender. There was a 14-0 first quarter run in there, 23-5 to the end of the first quarter leading 37-22, basketball as it was meant to be played.
“For our group, that’s how we have to play and I don’t think earlier in the year we played to that identity,” said Donovan. “I love the way we played. We moved it, we shared it. We’ve had a lot of guys involved the last several games. It’s five to seven guys in double figures, close to 30 assists, all those things have been positive.”
There was just so much to admire, Caruso blocking both Durant and Nurkić as they went up for shots, White fading long for accurate threes and then doing the turnstile on the Suns defenders, and always looking for someone open in the corner. White’s point guard skills and instincts have become a revelation.
“Coby was great,” said DeRozan. “The thing about Coby is how hard he works, how resilient he is, the competitor he is. It’s been amazing just to watch how comfortable he is getting, making big shots and plays, being aggressive the way he handles the ball, creates his own shots, finishes at the basket. He deserves more credit than he’s getting with the improvement; it’s been impressive.
“You see teams game planning for him to try to get the ball out of his hands,” DeRozan noted. “It’s a testament to his greatness and an honor for me to be able to share the court with him. He was trying to figure his way, spot up shooter, point guard, two guard? Now seeing him as a complete player is cool.”
If not so much this disheartening end result in Phoenix.
“At this level, I’m not a big moral victory guy,” said Donovan. “But this didn’t take away from the spirit and how hard they played. I could not be any more proud with the way they competed and played, the way they fought and battled and that it went back and forth and they didn’t wilt and kept coming back even though the (Suns) got control. It wasn’t like we lost a seven-point lead and then it went to 15 and the game was over. We kept going back and forth. DeMar’s (contested) play was tough. That was a big two points taken away and potential three-point play.
“There were a lot of games we lost this season you had no right to be upset about,” said Donovan. “This game you can be upset about because you poured your heart and soul into it and came up short.”
Though maybe providing a long view that they’re closer than most conventional wisdom suggests and the remedy is more plaster rather than tearing down the walls.
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