It’s perhaps not like we shouldn’t have seen this season coming for the Bulls, one often weighed down by expectations and disappointment if also enlivened by the sort of grace, elan and entertainment that curiously made much of it worthwhile.
The Bulls began the season with a 20-point home loss to an Oklahoma City Thunder team that if they all knew then what we know now they probably wouldn’t have needed a post-game team meeting. After which the very next game the Bulls unveiled an Alex Caruso defense-to-offense sequence of a steal and three-point winner in overtime to overcome a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit. And then right to a Zach LaVine 51-point explosion but a loss to a Detroit Pistons team about to lose a record 28 consecutive games. And then starting a game against Miami trailing 22-1 and coming back to win down the stretch on a DeRozan 22-footer.
Who are these guys!
“It’s been an issue for us since I’ve been here. We just haven’t been able to stay consistent with it all and play at a high level each game,” said Nikola Vučević. “Injuries and having guys in and out of the lineup affects it as well. Most teams deal with that, so it’s a part of it. I don’t know where we can find that consistency to do the things we do well each night. Even throughout games sometimes we’ll play really well for 38 minutes and have four or five minutes and throw it all away. I don’t know if it’s a focus thing or whatever. Obviously, going forward you can’t have that.
“Really bad start, really bad losses. Found a way to bounce back from that and since then we played much better,” said Vučević referencing the inglorious 5-14 start through November. “Not as consistent as we’d like. There were a lot of guys in and out of the lineup; important guys had season-ending injuries. But through all that we were able to stay resilient, compete and get into the play-in. Obviously, it’s not the position we envisioned at the beginning of the year, but that’s where we’re at and hopefully we can make the best of it.”
So, yes, he’s saying there’s still a chance.
It’s a daunting one still requiring two play-in game wins, the second on the road against a team that many projected as a possible championship contender. But the Bulls this season defeated both those teams at their best, the 76ers and Heat, which is the paradox of this season’s Bulls team that finished 39-43. And five games over .500 following the desultory start during the in-season tournament portion.
There were a plethora of injuries, Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams having season ending surgeries, free agent Torrey Craig out long periods along with rookie Julian Phillips. But DeRozan, Vučević and Coby White were near iron men to offset that, the Bulls being the only team in the league with three starters in the top 20 in minutes played. The Bulls suffered with an inability to improve their three-point shooting profile, as hoped, falling in the bottom five in the league. But they became the league’s best team in so-called clutch moments in the last five minutes of games.
“It’s been a hell of a year, lot of ups and downs, lot of frustrations, a lot of bad days, a lot of worse days, and a lot of good days,” said DeRozan. “But this group of guys, we’ve stuck with it, stayed resilient. We’re still trying to figure it out. We didn’t make excuses when we felt like a black cat crossed in front of us or broke a mirror or something; we stuck with it.”
That perhaps has been the most endearing and enduring quality about this Bulls team, that they unfortunately got behind in so many games, yet in so many of the same they came back in, went ahead, won in the last seconds. It was often that favorite cliche of the roller coaster ride, but more so that first drop when your heart feels like it’s going through your head.
Much of it was also was head scratching. But it also often was one of those things like a Mike Tyson boxing match. Don’t get to your seats late. Don’t turn away because you never know what’s going to happen.
November was brutal with those losses in all the in-season tournament games culminating in rock bottom in Boston, the Celtics making 21 threes, teams unsure about how the tournament worked so running up scores for the tiebreaker; just embarrassing.
So the very next game with LaVine and DeRozan injured, the Bulls, of all things, beat the Milwaukee Bucks in double overtime. Caruso again made a big three to extend the game and Williams power dunked in your face at the end.
“The Milwaukee game after those four bad loss where we lost by maybe an average of 30 points or whatever, that win was a big game for us,” agreed Vučević. “To just kind of regroup, get some positive energy, bounce back. Many times where this team could have fallen apart and quit and gave up because this guy is out and then you find Zach’s out for the year and then it’s Pat, somehow most of time we found ways to just fight.”
Everyone in the media learned resilience has one “l” this season as often as the players and coaches used the adjective. But it was appropriate the way the team did come up with so many unexpected victories which seemed like sure defeat.
December also introduced the Coby White of draft possibilities if not recent seasons as White suddenly grew into an All-Star-level player averaging more than 22 points per game in December and January and answering that question of what now after Lonzo Ball.
White hit the Pelicans for 30 in December as the Bulls swept that Western Conference contender and then lost to Milwaukee in overtime even as DeRozan had 41. The Bulls began a game in Miami leading 33-8 and lost, and then on that trip went to Philadelphia and won despite 40 points from Joel Embiid.
Then the Bulls wiped out LeBron and the Lakers, who were coming off winning the in-season tournament, and in the Bulls overtime extravaganza won two straight extras that were part of an 8-4 run in January.
The Bulls overcame a 23-point deficit to beat West contender Minnesota again after just barely failing to extinguish a 30-point deficit against Sacramento. Then a month later stormed back to beat the Kings after trailing by 22. And then the Bulls lost again to the Pistons because they missed 27-of-29 threes.
And then the Bulls beat Cleveland in double overtime as Andre Drummond had 26 rebounds after a 24-point, 25-rebound game earlier. Then they went on a four-game Western Conference trip and won the first three, including in Golden State. The Pacers are a solid East playoff team, but the Bulls blew them out at home and won in overtime in the most uncanny of games when DeRozan intentionally missed a free throw and got the ball back for a shot to tie and then a win. And then the Bulls lose at home to Washington before finishing the sweep of the Timberwolves.
Go figure.
“We’re not an upper echelon Eastern team right now; that’s just a fact of the matter,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said following the Game 82 loss in New York. “We’re going to work to try to get to that point, but these guys have really grown. I told the guys (after the game) I couldn’t be prouder and feel privileged to work with these guys every day. The reason I say that is the things they’ve had to endure the season as a team. It could have been a lot worse. If I’d have said to anyone here Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams are going to be out (for the season), you’re going to miss Torrey Craig and go through all of these things and have to bring back Javonte Green, you’d sit there and say this team was incapable of having a winning record (since the 5-14 start). The hand that we were dealt I felt they handled it well.
“Organizationally, is this where we want to be going forward? No,” said Donovan. “We want to be in a situation where you’re making deep playoff runs;
we’re not that right now. But I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging onto the rope, fighting and battling and competing. And giving ourselves an opportunity to advance and maybe earn an opportunity to get to the playoffs. So they deserve a lot of credit for that. I’ve said there’s a lot of money not playing for us. Have they always played perfect, have they always played great, have there been things we’ve been disappointed in? Sure, but we’re all in it together and I do appreciate the way they’ve continued to battle and fight and lift each other up and try to support each other.
“It’s hard to evaluate what your results are going to be,” Donovan said when asked what he anticipated entering the season. “We were a play-in team last year with pretty much the same team coming back. So the goal was can we do better, can we improve in that area? There are things we have done better. I don’t know if I was looking at the wins and losses and what our record would be. The goal was to get to the playoffs and take another step. We were a play-in team last year, so somehow (try to) get to a sixth seed. But with the things we had to endure, that was not meant to be. But always from a coaching perspective you want to have guys who can be resilient and battle through things. Stuff happens and you’ve got to have people who can step up.
“It would have been misguided for me to sit there and say we’re a top six seed. Based on what?” said Donovan. “To me, until you prove something or do it. To sit there and make bold statements on what this team could potentially be or this is what we’re going to be, we have to go out there and earn it and prove it and work through that. What I appreciate most about them is when something is not going well they really try to come back and respond. Especially this generation, one of the more difficult things for a lot of players is to bounce back from difficulty and handle adversity. I do think they put their best foot forward and try to correct and be better.”
And so the games continue. At least one more Wednesday in the United Center.
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