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Yes, we understand Mrs. Lincoln, but other than that?
You sort of got that sense on Sunday from the Bulls, that some things felt pretty good, but that it all just ended unfortunately in a 114-104 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
“A lot (of the shots) felt good coming off my hand,” Coby White was analyzing afterward. “They were either short or long, in and out. If I had to go back, I’d take those same shots again. Just some nights shots aren’t going to fall, so those are nights we have to figure out ways to get over the hump.”
Which has been growing, as the Bulls climb is getting steeper as they dropped to 10-15, their eighth loss in the last nine games and second among the Pelicans’ five wins.
“We competed at a high level, I felt like,” said White, who led the Bulls with 20 points.
But talk about cold, and forget the temperature outside.
If you didn’t know better by the way the teams shot the ball, you’d think it was the NBA that had scheduled a Winter Classic.
Which this wasn’t as the Bulls were 13 of 49 on threes for 26.5 percent, the Bulls being the higher percentage team.
“I felt like we played the right way; I really did,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. The way we played tonight (however) is a sustainable style because even though we shot the ball incredibly poorly, we gave ourselves a chance. As poorly as we shot (seeing a trend here?), and them making a couple late, we were there. We’re going to have to find ways to win games in the mud when we don’t shoot it well. I thought defensively we tried to compete and gave ourselves a chance.”
So there were some positives, though it was difficult to recall many with White one of 10 on threes, Isaac Okoro one of eight, the Bulls outrebounded, outscored inside and matched in fast break points in a game the Bulls played relatively slowly, Josh Giddey removed late after some turnovers and isolation play, Nikola Vučević still slumping, and Zach Collins and Jalen Smith returning to part time after a successful pairing in the Charlotte victory.
Oh, right, Kevin Huerter returned from injury and made four of eight threes for 16 points with four steals and was one of three Bulls with a plus rating.
But Matas Buzelis continued to spend large parts of games spectating, this time attempting just five shots while Vučević, in the eight games since he called out the team after the win against Washington, has just three double-doubles, is shooting 44 percent overall and averaging about 13 points and eight rebounds.
“We moved the ball, we generated good shots,” noticed Donovan. “We’ve got to take those threes (that are open). I thought we did a lot of really, really good things in terms of ball movement. I’m not making excuses, but we have to work to find our rhythm, and what I mean by that is when we start getting guys back (from injury) it’s about guys trying to find a rhythm, a balance, rotations. It is going to take some time for these guys to be able to do that. We all have to work to find that that rhythm.
“I thought we played downhill, made better decisions on the kickouts,” Donovan pointed out. “There’s been several games we were taking 27, 28, 29 three-point shots and opponents are taking 40, 45, 50, and it’s really hard to overcome those numbers when your shots are in the paint, (but) we haven’t been great finishing (at the rim). We’ve gotten shots blocked, so that has to be a growth for us to make decisions in the paint. We did a better job of that. We’re starting to get guys back, but we haven’t played whole.”
Ayo Dosunmu remained out, but Donovan has been trying to balance the arrival of reinforcements almost each game, though most remain on some sort of playing time restriction. It’s led to a potpourri of lineups and rotations, though Donovan likes the coaching matchup and momentum game.
New Orleans has led the league this season in injured player games missed, though a surprise return on Sunday didn’t help the Bulls much. Zion Williamson returned a week—or a season, depending on what many expect—ahead of predicted and had 18 points coming off the bench, including a speculator flying baseline backdoor lob dunk to effectively close out the game with 36.9 seconds left after the bottom fell out of the Bulls late in the fourth quarter. That’s when they went from trailing by four points with six minutes left to trailing by 15 less than three minutes later.
Yeah, close out that tab for the night.
“They are a really talented offensive team, (Trey) Murphy, (Herbert) Jones, (Jeremiah) Fears,” Donovan contended, “and now Zion, (Jordan) Poole coming off the bench.”
The latter which did help the Bulls as Poole’s shot chart pretty much breaks down to anytime he has the ball and if he’s facing his basket, though not necessarily a requirement.
“They have some very talented offensive guys,” said Donovan. “They got some breaks, shots that rattled off the rim and into the basket (three in the last quarter); that happens, and again... we’re going to as a group find our rhythm as guys come back.”
Donovan certainly was right about Fears, the Chicago-born kid who grew up in Joliet and was headed to the University of Illinois before a late detour to Oklahoma and then the 2025 draft. For all the condemnation of the Pelicans from a draft night trade, they got that one right with Fears at No. 7. The 6-3 guard is an absolute jet. He and Murphy each had 20 points, and Fears continued to motor around Bulls players like he was on ice skates—after all, there is ice under the court for the Blackhawks—and the Bulls, well, they weren’t motoring as quickly.
Actually, that seemed part of the problem as the Bulls again engaged in more half court play, often moving slower up court and not spreading the ball around as expeditiously. It’s not something that should have occurred with the Pelicans shooting eight of 33 on threes, New Orleans missing their first five threes in a 24-16 Bulls start and eight of their first 10. The Bulls led 26-21 after the first quarter.
Both teams were playing like they hadn’t removed their coats.
Cold was the word of the day. Inside and out.
The Bulls began the game with something of a predictable message after they won on Friday with Vučević sitting out the fourth quarter. He got the first shot attempt. He missed, but with Buzelis getting going with five straight points and Patrick Williams banging in consecutive threes, it seemed maybe the Bulls also had something going.
But Giddey couldn’t get much going with two early fouls and would finish with 11 points and five assists. Donovan did take a look at his two-bigs tandem with Zach Collins and Jalen Smith, but not for long. While Vučević seemed mostly content to pass the ball in the first half. Missing seven of eight attempts probably did have something to do with that.
The Pelicans hit the Bulls with a late second quarter 13-3 with Williamson taking everyone into the lane. But the Bulls responded well enough with driving scores from White, Huerter and Tre Jones to trail just 52-47 at halftime. Still, the game was played at a relatively slow pace for so many missed threes that usually lead to fast breaks.
Fears and Jones made threes to kickstart a quick 12-point third quarter lead for New Orleans, and again the Bulls pushed their way back into the game despite their errant aim. Giddey had his best run of the game with seven straight points to rally the Bulls, and it became a 14-0 Bulls run with a Coby three-point play. And then his lone three of the game to give the Bulls the lead with about a minute left in the third quarter. It was 76-75 Pelicans to begin the fourth.
Home game, got over the cold start; as famed Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, a native of western Illinois, would have said, "This game's in the refrigerator, the door's closed, the lights out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O's jiggling...”
Well, maybe not.
The game was tied at 81 with about 10 minutes remaining when the Bulls apparently just did not have the appropriate Fears.
C’mon, I waited all the way to the end for that bad pun.
The speedy guard, a true Swifty, made it a cruel winter (day) that the Bulls needed to shake it off lest there be too many more blank spaces in their schedule. Talk about a song sung blue.
“If Coby White gets up 10 three-point shots, I’m fine with that,” Donovan explained. “He’s going to have to have some grace with himself. I understand the standard he holds himself to, but you can’t be in and out and in and out dealing with the calf (injury) and expect to pick up where you left off.”
Which is fair as White’s three-point shooting has plummeted to about 27 percent since his return from his calf issues, which have reappeared from time to time. He did say Sunday he was feeling much better, though still has playing time limitations.
“We’ve got a lot of games left, I’m not putting too much into it,” White said about his slow start. “I know who I am as a player and know what I’ve done in the league, 37 percent, 38 percent ranges (on threes), so it will even out. It’s going to take time, but we don’t have a lot of time on our side (to find that rhythm as a team). Everything was short or long, so I tried to adjust.”
The Bulls weren’t able to because of Fears’ speed and Zion’s power, and the Pelicans had 22 of their 60 inside points in the fourth quarter. And even though the Bulls made four of seven threes in the fourth quarter (nine of 42 before then), the Bulls basically trailed by double digits the last four and half minutes.
“We wanted a carry over from the (four days off and practices), and that carryover might not result in a win... Charlotte it did and then tonight it didn’t. But I felt like we did some good things on both ends of the floor in terms of moving the ball and having each other’s backs, so like I said you can’t get too down,” offered White. “In this league, you can’t get too high or too low. You have to stay even keel as a team. We have to continue to trust the work we put in and continue to have that great effort, and that will translate over to (where) we are going to win some.”
These last two games were the so called loser’s bracket from the NBA Cup tournament that concludes on Tuesday with the Spurs and Knicks. The Bulls then return from their mid season detention to the league’s regularly scheduled schedule with consecutive games first against Cleveland and then Atlanta leading up to Christmas.
And maybe some joy to the Bulls world? Because, baby, it sure was cold inside on Sunday.
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