This is the time of year when we begin to think about the things we are thankful for. Like Monday for the Bulls that no one forgot to wear their shorts in the game against the Miami Heat, there were no hangnail emergencies, and they didn’t start the game trailing 22-1 as they did Saturday against Miami.
Just trailing 12-2 this time on the way to a 118-100 loss to Miami that left the Bulls 5-10, and perhaps needing a trip to a Woolworth or Kresge to begin feeling better about things these days.
“We knew they were going to come out stronger, more aggressive (after blowing that 21-point lead Saturday). We weren't down 20-1 this game, so that’s a positive,” said a hopeful Zach LaVine. “We came into halftime I think we were down 10 or 12 (65-53). Came out of halftime pretty good (within 67-64 on a LaVine three). But they're a good team, they made some good adjustments late in the third quarter. They went on a run and we weren't able to capitalize.”
No thrilling cliffhanger finish this time as that was the closest the Bulls would be tied to the tracks of their inefficiency (29.7% on threes) with the locomotive of defeat speeding their way.
Hey, everyone lets DeMar get away with the bizarre metaphors.
After that, the Heat steadily pulled ahead with a big lift comeback from rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. in the third quarter as the Heat quickly resumed a 12-point lead by the end of the third quarter. And then the Bulls were losing Duncan Robinson again amidst a sequence of turnovers on three consecutive possessions, Miami went ahead by 22 points with about eight minutes left in the game. With no dramatics to come this time like against the Magic and Heat on this home stand.
Now the Bulls starting Wednesday in Oklahoma City spend the next week on the road both concluding their first stage in-season tournament games and hoping not to be someone’s holiday feast.
“We’ve got to come out ready to play both ends of the court; that’s pretty much it,” said Coby White, who led the Bulls with a season-high 20 points. “Play with force and physicality and that will take care of both ends. Obviously disappointed; nobody wants to be 5-10. But that’s the reality of where we are right now, and we have to figure out how to win games and stack wins together. We’re positive, trying to stick to our identity. It’s not going to be easy, so we’ve got to continue to fight through and stay together and that’s what we’re continuing to do and hopefully something will click.”
Not much did Monday against a determined Miami team that took the lead quickly and never let it go.
The Bulls made a few prosaic attempts, but the cryptic chaos of their recent crusading comebacks weren’t particularly contagious this time. Yes, the best you could give them was a C.
“We’re trying to play to our identity and I feel we are,” said White. “Once those shots start to fall I feel we’ll be better off.”
But it wasn’t a particularly good night all around for the Bulls.
Nikola Vučević had 18 points and eight rebounds, but in the continuing emphasis of coach Billy Donovan for more of a so called equal opportunity offense and ball movement, neither LaVine nor DeMar DeRozan were much of a force. LaVine had 13 points with defensive wizard Jimmy Butler his primary defender and facing traps and double teams. DeRozan had just 15 points on 10 shots, one more than LaVine. Though it was more a game for the role players as Butler attempted just 11 shots. Though he seemed most pleased with a desperate hook shot late in the clock in the first quarter that he made and gleefully yelled, “Sky hook!”
Yes, the Heat was on; on the street, inside your head.
Alex Caruso still starting had 13 points, his sixth consecutive double figure scoring game, a career-best. But even as he made a couple of nice defensive plays against Bam Adebayo early in the third quarter, it wasn’t one of Caruso’s better nights. Adebayo led Miami with 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. But it was Duncan Robinson repeatedly hitting the three-point daggers, six of nine with Caruso frequently losing him trying to help teammates.
Robinson’s three of five threes to open the game helped put the Bulls in that early hole again.
Also, the Heat regularly manipulated their offense to put White in pick-and-roll actions to get him against taller players, like Butler, Robinson, and even Haywood Highsmith.
“He’s (Butler), what 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8, strong and of the people on the court I’m probably the smallest one out there,” admitted White. “So my teammates help me out a lot and I try to fight. I wasn’t happy about we had to double and put us in rotations, but, like I say, he’s a good player. I think we’ve been playing good defensively, and offensively I know I haven’t shot the ball as well as I would have liked this entire season. But we’re getting the shots we want. I can do a better job starting off playing with more force and setting the tone.”
Though for now Donovan said he’ll ride with the recent changes that have Caruso as the third starting power forward of the season, though he’ll often move to point guard as the game progresses and substitutions are made.
“Certainly we've talked about the starts we've gotten off to early in games," Donovan said. “We’ve looked at some different starting rotations, played some different rotations, do some different things to try to get back to a level of consistency. I would say we'll probably stick with this [starting lineup] going to the next game. I think sometimes it's been different stuff, like the turnovers prevented us from getting off to a good start. We had six in the first quarter. And that kind of hurt us because we actually shot the ball fairly well in the first half (seven of 17 on threes). The turnovers hurt us, and then I thought the difference in the game, and give them credit, they shot the ball incredibly well (17 of 35 on threes), obviously a lot better than they did. Different guys stepped up and made shots. Where we are with this group now (we need) a couple of more games to evaluate and look at it.”
The Bulls were less active than usual with just two steals and Miami with just 10 turnovers. The Heat out-rebounded the Bulls after the Bulls had a 10-rebound edge Saturday in the first of the two-game set. Miami also got 19 points from rookie Jaquez Jr. and a plus-24 after he was part of the Heat bench’s meltdown Saturday and a minus-25 in that game. The Bulls bench Monday was outscored 42-21.
“Now we get to go on the road and try to right the ship,” said LaVine.
And hope no one evidences Micheal Ray Richardson’s famously discordant and elegiac, “the ship be sinkin’” as a Knicks season began to list some 40 years ago. The Bulls aren’t quite there yet just a couple of games out of a play-in spot in the roiling waves of the Eastern Conference.
Though we all remember it can get late early.
As narratives go, following this game it was about LaVine — and to a lesser extent DeRozan — attempting fewer shots than usual. Though Donovan did say he approved since, after all, he’s been lobbying all season for more passing and movement and a more equal distribution of shots. And there were several times LaVine was open and waving his arms but didn’t get the ball.
“I think Zach played really, really unselfishly, generated a lot of good looks for the guys,” approved Donovan. “When he’s aggressive that’s good for us. I give him credit when he does drive the ball and help comes he is a willing passer. I've had this conversation with Zach. There's really never, ever a bad shot when he shoots the basketball. So he has the freedom that when he has got it, we want him to take it. This is not a situation where I'm telling him, ‘Hey Zach, listen, you’ve got to pass the basketball,’ or ‘We want you to do more of this.’ No, we need him to just be aggressive. And then once he's aggressive make the right play.
“There’s a balance for him,” Donovan admitted. “Zach wants to win and help the group, but I also think a lot in his career sometimes he had to shoot all those shots. But he is playing unselfishly; he is trying to find the open guy, he’s making good basketball plays and there are a lot of ways to impact the game. I want him to be aggressive, but that doesn’t always mean to shoot the ball. He’s trying to read the game, how’s he being guarded. Miami trapped him sometimes. Trying to shoot out of those double teams is not good for our team.”
LaVine is the Catch-22 of the Bulls.
For a long time, the theme was he had to shoot less often and involve his teammates more. He had five assists to match DeRozan for team-most Monday. But when he does shoot less often, like Monday, the question comes about why. Even as LaVine still is averaging 20 points the last 10 games while leading the team in assists half those games.
“Obviously, we (with DeRozan) want to be out there and score the ball and put the ball in the basket,” said LaVine. “But every play and every game is different. I was trying to do everything I could to obviously be aggressive and create for others, me and DeMar both. We're playing the right way and taking shots when needed to. It worked (Saturday, LaVine with 13 points and 10 shots). Today was a different story. But that's tough. That was their strategy, obviously, to get the ball out of our hands. Didn't feel like forcing it. We trust our teammates and trust the pass. Just have to find a way to win, figure out a different way to do it if we’re not shooting the ball as much. We were getting a lot of open shots; just didn’t go in the hoop. Can’t ask for anything else. We’re talented enough to come back in games and be competitive, we’d just rather not do that.”
And this time they just didn’t.
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