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There’s nothing like enjoying some jazz to regain your rhythm, and it’s been mostly a sweet reverie for the Bulls in recent seasons against the Utah Jazz. But not on Sunday as the improvisation and synchronization came from the Utah side, and the beat fell on the Bulls once again, this time a 150-147 double overtime loss.
It was the painfully fifth consecutive Bulls loss, most similarly in excruciating and if-only/what-if fashion as the Bulls record fell back to 6-6. Josh Giddey sized up yet another triple double with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, Nikola Vučević added 21 points and 12 rebounds, Matas Buzelis and Ayo Diosunmu each scored 18 points, and Coby White in his return from injury and first game of the season sent the game to double overtime with a running layup with two tenths of a breath to go in the first overtime and finished with 27 points and eight assists, 14 of 14 on free throws.
The final note was a three pointer from Utah’s Keynote George with two seconds remaining in the second overtime. Vučević tried one more swing to tie as the final horn sounded for the Bulls defeat.
“It’s a long season. This moment doesn’t define us or define who we are,” said White. “We have to figure out how to get over that ledge. We’ve had I don’t know how many games that were close. The first three or four games (of the season) where close and we were winning those games. The last three or four besides the Detroit game, we lost those games.
“So we have to take everything as a team and learn from it and how we can get better and hold ourselves accountable as to why are we losing these close games,” said White. “We’ve got a lot to learn from and are excited for the next challenge, Denver tomorrow, obviously a championship caliber team.”
And so the road becomes less kind as the Bulls will be without White, who’ll sit out back to back games for awhile, when they play the projected championship contending Denver Nuggets and MVP front runner Nikola Jokić on Monday. And perhaps a first look at rookie Noa Essengue with the Bulls starters Sunday all stretched beyond 40 minutes in the light mountain air, high altitude and exhilaration of Sunday’s game, other perhaps than the result.
“I thought Coby played really, really well,” commended Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “I’m happy he could have the success he could have after being out (so long). He’s done a remarkable job keeping himself in shape with a lower leg (injury). He was (champing) at the bit to get back for a long time.
“We have to be better on the detail stuff,” Donovan added. “You have to play really hard and execute in this league, and where we are at the margins we have to be really good in those areas, and I thought we had breakdowns that really hurt us. This early part of the season to get over the hump we have to do a better job on the execution piece of it.”
The Bulls committed 17 turnovers for 20 Jazz points, and that’s been one area of improvement Donovan has sought from Giddey, who committed six turnovers. But Giddey, otherwise, was his invaluable self with a pair of blocks and steals and the Bulls last three points of regulation before he barely missed winning it with a runner that bounced long with about four seconds left. George airmailed a baseline 20 footer trying for the regulation win, little indication that the 27 percent three-point shooter who’d missed seven of nine before that second overtime closer would stop the music for the Bulls.
Which could have been much sooner the way former Bull Lauri Markkanen was swinging with 47 points, 11 of 13 from the free throw line with six threes.
“A seven footer who can handle the ball like that, shoot, take you off the dribble, create his own shot...” admired White. “He made some tough shots. You give a guy like Lauri open threes and he gets to the free throw line and he gets going... I saw the Atlanta game when he had 40. He’s averaged 30 since the year began. We have to figure out ways to be disciplined.”
The Bulls did plenty of good things, and the teams matched statistics mostly throughout. The Bulls made 19 threes to 18 for the 5-8 Jazz. It was 54-52 Bulls in the paint, 20-17 Bulls on second chance points, 18-16 Bulls with fast breaks. The Bulls had a 60-53 overall rebounding advantage, had 38 assists and were 30 of 32 on free throws, though looser with the ball.
But it should not have overshadowed an effort where the Bulls had a 15-point lead midway through the third quarter after Giddey and White combined to score the last 14 Bulls points of the first half for a 70-61 Bulls lead. After sitting out the first month with a calf strain, White came in ready, making his first shot attempt coming off the bench in the first quarter.
White was to be on a minutes restriction to ease his way back into the lineup, but the urgency of the double overtime pushed his playing time just over 30 minutes as the Bulls desperately wanted to start this three-game road trip with a win.
Donovan explained he was planning not to play White once the game went into overtime since White was at 25 minutes. Donovan said he consulted the Bulls medical staff, who said White could return if he didn’t start the overtime. White also lobbied to play, saying he wasn’t experiencing any discomfort. He will not play in Denver.
“I was following their lead,” said White. "When it got to OT, I knew I’d hit my minutes restriction. Obviously, I wanted to keep playing. They told me I couldn’t and I was going to stop because I wanted to make sure everything was cool. But they were tracking my numbers and they said based on my workouts my numbers were higher, so I could keep playing. But not all the way through.
“I always have said I’m blessed and fortunate and always thank God for allowing me to play the game I love each and every night; I’m just happy I got through the game healthy,” said White. “The coaching staff talked to me coming back (about) being aggressive and being who I was and not come in kind of tip toeing. So I kind of focused on that. I’ve been paying attention to how we’ve been playing and how I can affect the game in a positive way.”
White did so, which is encouraging for the Bulls as they begin to get healthy.
Despite the unpleasant outcome for the visitors, it was a memorable game with overall 34 lead changes and ties, including the Bulls rallying from deficits in both overtimes, including down six points with three minutes left in the second overtime.
It must be something about the local mountain views, which are spectacular in one of the most beautiful cities in the country, that the Bulls have played some of their longest games here. Maybe they are not in a hurry to leave. This was the site in 1992 of a triple overtime Bulls loss in the only game Michael Jordan ever was ejected when he bumped an official after a late foul call in the third overtime and also was suspended by the NBA. Which wasn’t all that bad with the Bulls heading for Phoenix the next day and Jordan getting in some extra golf. Though there actually were protests to the league office for the NBA suspending Jordan in his only visit to Phoenix, then the valley of the sun of a gun.
The Bulls looked like they had this one as they did five of the previous seven against what has been the perennially tanking Jazz the last few seasons. But the Jazz finally has started to produce a bit of a young, dynamic core with Markkanen as the foundation. Falling behind in that third quarter, the Jazz’ quicker guards and wing players began to beat Bulls players off the dribble for layups with Markkanen torturing the defense off a mid pick-and-roll where he was getting layups or popping out for open threes.
The Jazz got within 98-94 after three quarters. And then it was a may-the-best-man win shootout. The Bulls nosed ahead coming down the regulation stretch as White and Dosunmu made desperation threes as the shot clock was about to tick down. While Markkanen’s three jumpers in the last four minutes of regulation proved crucial for Utah. He missed one of two free throws with 19 seconds left in regulation for the 127 tie. Giddey then dribbled out the clock for that last dash that went awry, his layup long and tip short.
Utah seemed to have the game leading 136-132 with 43.8 seconds left in the first overtime. Timeout Bulls.
Giddey threw to a cutting Buzelis for a slam dunk and two-point Bulls deficit, and then it was the Jazz looking like a disparate Jazz quartet with no one sure when to take control. Though the Bulls hit some sour notes as well in the chaos of a Jazz turnover with Isaiah Collier squeezed by White and Giddey, a Bulls turnover to follow. Then George allowing himself to be tied up and losing the tip to White. And after a timeout, White taking the inbounds pass in the backcourt and speeding all the way to tie the game on a lofted driving layup with two tenths of a second left in that first overtime.
Coby! Coby! Coby!
The Bulls were trying to catch their breath as the Jazz began to pull away to begin the second overtime, a three and then the Bulls reaching and fouling, Utah ahead 144-138 with 3:08 remaining.
But then came Coby—again—with a drive, then a couple of free throws after the Jazz began trying to close out the game and missed jumpers. And then Vučević, from Giddey, downed a three pointer with 45 seconds to go to get the Bulls within 146-145. White then tied the score at 147 with a pair of free throws with 8.8 seconds left, and a third overtime beckoned. Until the Jazz curiously went to George on the right wing for a three.
And he made it!
Vučević’s straight on three to tie hit front rim as the last horn sounded.
Heck of a show, though.
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