Game Recap

Sam Smith

Life, we often hear, can be so unfair, like basketball, which is supposed to be a meritocracy. But, of course, it isn’t. Because then Whitney Young and DePaul’s Javon Freeman-Liberty would have an NBA contract instead of perhaps facing another season with the Windy City Bulls in the G League, the place where the players are considered generally just good enough to dream.

Freeman-Liberty, like just about everyone playing in the NBA Summer League where the Bulls Saturday lost 87-80 to the Memphis Grizzlies, has that NBA dream. And in again being the best player on the floor for the Bulls Saturday with 24 points, six rebounds, five assists and four of six threes, Freeman-Liberty has the NBA game. 

Just not the appropriate hoops pedigree, undrafted Blue Demon instead of being from a blue blood, lacking a guaranteed contract and, if potentially essential, also dispensable. So while the spotlight and attention of Bulls watchers this month falls on former first round draft pick Dalen Terry and 2023 second round pick Julian Phillips, the latter who made his Summer League debut Saturday, it is the determined Freeman-Liberty with the free flowing hair and game who through the 1-1 start just goes about his business with an attitude as upbeat as his game.

“I’ve got to give thanks to the team and the coach for putting me in position to just be out there,” Freeman-Liberty said Saturday. “I know it was a loss, but I thought it was a good effort; we competed to the end.

“I really don’t like to talk about (not being drafted), but it’s another chip,” the succinct in speech if not game Freeman-Liberty said. “All my life I’ve been fighting to get here and I feel I’m still not (there). So I’ve still got that chip on my shoulder, motivated each and every day to come in and compete. I feel like always being motivated. I’m a God person, so I talk to God each and every day, every chance I get. I sit there and pray for the best. I’m always grateful being in the position that I am in right now.”

It was a bit more like it Saturday for Terry with 17 points and a trio of three-pointers. Though in nine attempts as Terry added a five for 21 Saturday to his opening four of 14. Still a great motor, if still too often misfiring. Terry played more composed in Game 2, primarily off the ball this time and with more driving penetration if too many forced shots.

Rookie second round draft selection Phillips, the Bulls’ other summer priority in Las Vegas, came off the bench after sitting out the opener Friday due to contract uncertainty. And then got an eyes-wide-open-shocked look at the NBA, obviously finding the players much bigger, faster and better than he apparently anticipated in getting just one late basket in 24 minutes and a team-low minus-13 plus/minus.

“For myself, my performance isn’t what I wanted it to be,” Phillips conceded. “Kind of trying to find out how the game was going to go, so glad I got the game under me so I can be better the next outing. It’s my first game on this level and obviously every level is different. Trying to see what the game is, but definitely be better the next outing. The pace is faster, guys are bigger and stronger, obviously. It is a different game than college basketball, so you have to play more to get accustomed.”

It’s a Summer League; not a summer vacation.

It was another tough break for second-year pro Justin Lewis, who had a nice effort in the opening win in his first game back from ACL surgery. He started again Saturday and played about six minutes before suffering a sprained ankle. His status for the remainder of Summer League is unknown. Undrafted Adama Sanogo played a more forceful game and stayed away from perimeter jump shots, fighting his way to 12 rebounds. Marksman Nate Darling added 10 points, but was just one of six on threes.

It was another spotty offensive game with both teams shooting 40% overall and 33% on threes.

The game proved a tug of war mostly throughout until with about three minutes left and the score tied at 77 after Phillips' only basket of the game on a 19-footer, Memphis scored 10 straight points on a three and some slow Bulls responses for fouls before a Freeman-Liberty three closed the scoring.

“I really applaud our effort,” said Summer League Bulls coach John Bryant. "It’s hard to play a back-to-back, but no excuses.”

Bryant said the Bulls were short on the effort plays they prioritize, five deflections per quarter (only 10 for the game) and a shot contest rate of 75% (64% for the game).

“We just couldn’t give that second effort, give another effort that was required,” said Bryant.

The Bulls next game is Tuesday against Sacramento at 9 p.m. central time.

“I was excited Julian got in there and got a taste of it,” said Bryant. “It’s Summer League and you think everything is going to go up: ‘I’m going to score 20, have seven rebounds, three steals, we’ll win every game.’ But then real life happens. He’s probably a little disappointed he had only two points. But I told him this is your first game in the NBA; you have a lot more. What are you going to do to improve the next game? It’s up to him to bounce back; he’s a rookie.

“Dalen played with a little bit more control,” noted Bryant. “Shots didn’t go in. He did try to lead, played the most minutes again and played hard. I’m proud of Dalen. He has a lot of weight on his shoulders. Being a first round pick isn’t easy. I think he’s carrying it the best he can. I thought he improved today.”

And then there was the guy who’s been the best for the two games, the 6-foot-4 Freeman-Liberty. He is leading the team in scoring and second in rebounds and assists while shooting 54% overall and 50% on threes.

So the Bulls have found their point guard? Not quite yet.

Freeman-Liberty isn’t the dominant athlete, and something of a combo guard. So a bit small for shooting guard as Carlik Jones mostly ran the offense for Windy City. But Freeman-Liberty has shown, if briefly with the Summer League team, he can direct offense with a nice mid-range shot game off pick-and-roll. Though he’s also gotten accustomed to mostly rolling with the punches.

“It is a harder road for guys like that to get to the NBA,” Bryant agreed. “Nothing about life is fair. We’ve all been dealt our fair share of obstacles. It happens to the NBA player who is undrafted.”

Because teams invest in players they draft. So sometimes they keep them around longer either because they owe them money or they don’t want to admit they made a draft mistake. Then a player bounces around awhile and like Freeman-Liberty, who’ll be 24 in October, teams decide you’ve reached your ceiling. Then you go to the G League, which some inaccurately see as a demotion rather than an opportunity. Though not Freeman-Liberty.

“The G League has helped me a lot,” he was saying after Saturday’s loss. “It’s a competitive league; it’s going to develop you a lot. Everybody is trying to get somewhere (in the G League). When everyone is trying to get somewhere, it’s like each and every day you have guys giving it their all to get to the next level.”

And there are a lot of success stories, like the Bulls Alex Caruso.

Freeman-Liberty, the nephew of celebrated former University of Illinois star Marcus Liberty, maintains that liberated spirit.

He started at Seton Academy in South Holland and then when it closed moved to Whitney Young on the West side, where he played for a state title winner and in the title game in consecutive seasons. But slight of frame, he ended up going to Valparaiso, where he was an all-defense player. After two years, he transferred to DePaul. And as a senior averaged 21.7 points and shot 37% on threes. But older, smaller, in between positions, he didn’t make it into the 2022 NBA draft.

He then averaged 17.4 points per game for Windy City shooting almost 40% on threes, and with the Bulls this summer showing he can run an offense. Sort of like Carlik Jones showed last Summer League for the Bulls and with an MVP G League season earned a make good contract with the Bulls.

So Freeman-Liberty continues full speed ahead determined not to be torpedoed by the doubts or doubters.

“Be that guy out there always talking and communicating, making sure everyone is in the right place and organized,” said Freeman-Liberty about his role this summer and beyond. “It’s a lot (to improve upon). I just feel like me getting stronger and me being more vocal out there, me being one of those guys always on the bench communicating and talking. I’m one of those guys who is versatile. I can play defense and be a point guard to get everyone involved and be a scorer if the coach needs me to.

“I’m still very young,” Freeman-Liberty points out. “I know I’ve got a chance. I’ve got time to consider and think. Every opportunity is a good opportunity. That’s what I live by. Overseas or the G League, it’s an opportunity to wake up every day and play basketball, the game you love.”

Got a question for Sam?Submit your question to Sam at&nbsp;asksam@bulls.com

The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or its Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.

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Bulls stumble in second Summer League game, Freeman-Liberty scores 24

The Bulls knew this was going to be no day at the beach, a second consecutive elimination road game to extend their season against a desperate Miami Heat team coming off a play-in game loss, their star Jimmy Butler entering criticized for a poor performance, both teams seeking cathartic epiphanies after viscerally disappointing regular seasons.

The Bulls now have plenty of time to reflect about it at the beach. Because their frustrating 2022-23 season ended Friday night in a 102-91 loss to the Heat.

A loss that seems to become more of a blur because it did appear as if the Bulls finally had the right stuff. There was a huge silencer, seemingly tectonic plate altering Coby White three at 6:19 with the usually cool locals hot and rocking after a Jimmy Butler steal and layup. It finally seemed in this lion’s den the Bulls were brandishing the saber. The Bulls were back ahead 85-80. Miami into a timeout. Then there was yet another subversive White three with 3:47 left in the game after Miami had inched back into a tie after leading by 14 points early in the game and 10 just after halftime.

Little did anyone among the Bulls realize, even if the echoes resonated with this offensively challenged team before, that there would not be another Bulls field goal the rest of the game. White rolled an attempted layup around the rim and out, DeMar DeRozan missed a short pull-up with Butler bumping him off the way other Heat defenders couldn’t. Alex Caruso, who was the Bulls best offense to start the game with four three-pointers, missed. And then Zach LaVine, in a gruesome shooting game after one of his best, rolled a layup too hard and off after DeRozan made one of two free throws. And by then the damage was done, the holy grail of the playoffs finally out of reach when one-time Bulls Max Strus with 31 points made his seventh three-pointer of the game with 1:14 left for a 96-91 Miami lead.

It took one more LaVine bank shot attempt that failed and Caruso fouling Strus on a three to leave the Bulls shuffling around on the court somewhat confused, bewildered and dejected. They didn’t truly expect to be competing for a title. But they had been playing well enough the last two months to be in reach of a bit of satisfaction and respectability for the season. It wasn’t to be.

“Missed opportunity, yeah,” DeRozan acknowledged in a somber autopsy. “(Crappy) feeling now, sucks. Shouldn’t have ended like that. Gave ourselves an opportunity to win a game; were up (six with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter and a point with 2:54). Now we are sitting in our reality with nothing to do.

“Both teams were battling; we both were fighting for our lives and the score was indicative of that,” said DeRozan. “It was just a matter of who could sustain something positive for the longer period of time. We lost it when we had it; the last couple of minutes we just couldn’t get it back. It comes to who can make the big shots, who can make the big plays, who gets the stops. We just couldn’t do that the last couple of minutes of the game. Just trying to understand emotionally how much we put into it the second half of the season trying to give ourselves an opportunity. Dropping the ball this way definitely sucks; this one is going to sting. Without a doubt (we should have been better). Too much talent. It’s on us to be able to look ourselves in the mirror and reevaluate ourselves and understand what we can do better. Sometimes it doesn’t come down to just talent.”

So now the Bulls will have a very long time to consider what was and could have been. And after a season with more expectations and a 40-42 record and now elimination in the play-in tournament, there figures to be changes with the roster. Nikola Vučević is an unrestricted free agent and White is restricted along with Ayo Dosunmu. Some have player options, like Andre Drummond, who was the biggest star in his minutes with six points and eight rebounds including three offensive, bouncing Heat players around like beach balls. And starter Patrick Beverley was a late addition in a buyout situation and a free agent.

If it’s a scintilla of positive news, the Bulls missing the playoffs move back into the lottery and from the Vučević trade with Orlando have their draft pick if it bounces into the top four in the lottery drawing next month. Their chances for the top pick at about 1.7 percent, which was the same when they got the No. 1 pick in 2008 and Derrick Rose. The percentages are marginally higher for selections through four, but exceptionally long odds.

No one, of course, was thinking much about that coming off the exciting victory in Toronto with LaVine’s extraordinary clutch scoring performance. But a dejected LaVine didn’t have much left with another 40-some minutes plus and shot six for 21 for 15 points, missing all six of his threes. White and Caruso with four threes each made all for the Bulls as shooting bit them again with 29% three-point shooting. Miami, other than Strus, was three of 18.

“He shot the hell out of the ball,” noticed DeRozan of Strus. “We did a great job on pretty much everyone else. Jimmy (31 points on 11 of 24) is going to be Jimmy regardless. You wouldn’t expect Strus to come out and have 30-plus. Take that away or even do just a little bit better job on him and make him miss some and we win the game.”

The boards also were an issue again other than Drummond as Miami had a 51-37 edge and 10 offensive rebounds. Bam Adebayo was awful offensively, but he had 17 rebounds.&nbsp; And the Bulls in their specialty scored just six points off turnovers after averaging about 20 in the three-game regular season sweep of Miami.

DeRozan led the Bulls with 26 points and nine assists. Caruso had a season-high 16 points, though statistics don’t officially count in the play-in tournament. White had 14 points and Nikola Vučević had 12 points and nine rebounds, but he had just nine shots as the Bulls were negligent in getting him the ball and more shots against multiple smaller defenders with the Heat’s switching scheme on defense.

LaVine seemed especially lugubrious given the outcome and the chance to play in those big and bigger games again.

“You don’t want to go home after these two games, how intense they were, how much everybody’s been caring,” said LaVine. “The realization you are not going to keep playing sucks. It has to hurt; if it doesn’t you’re not in the right business. I care for everybody here and appreciate how much everybody has put into it. We really did try to sneak in after having a season where we were not playing up to our potential. We started to get a little momentum (winning 12 of their last 18 including in Toronto and nine of the last 11 on the road before Miami), but not enough. We had a good opportunity with three minutes left, five minutes left. We just didn’t make enough plays at the end. It stinks

“I just didn’t shoot the ball well,” LaVine agreed. “A lot of good shots I felt normally go in (didn’t). It sucks knowing we were so close. If I make a couple of those it could be the tipping point, so it hurts a lot. For me, I’ll try to put it on myself. Nobody judges myself harder than me. Obviously, I was working my way back in the beginning of the season and obviously tried to play catchup. Once I got my stride I felt really good and the team felt really good after All-Star break and we played really well. Just wish we had that same stride the beginning of the year

“It was such a close, grind it out game,” LaVine pointed out. “Every stop mattered. We made some big shots and at times we didn’t. That hurts when you have the opportunity and don’t grab it because we had the opportunities.”

It’s the NBA, so these kinds of things happen. Most games are decided by a few possessions, shots that tumble in or roll out, decisions that reward or you rue. Not that it’s all serendipity, but when it’s that close with the end of the season at hand, there’s months to reconsider every moment for the loser and relief and only looking ahead — for the Heat to Milwaukee this time — for the winner.

“It came down to a make or miss league,” said Caruso. “We’re up three and Coby has a great drive and a little floater off the glass and it touches every part of the rim and falls out and they go down to a one-point game when we could have gone up five. Zach probably had one of the worst shooting nights of his career and a lot of them looked good. Just an unfortunate night for us to have a bad night.

“Then they just made more shots than us, got a couple of free throws, some timely calls,” said Caruso. “The consensus feeling with this team was a little underwhelming because we feel we were better record wise than how we finished. We gave away some opportunities this year, games you are supposed to win against inferior teams. Three or four of those we win we might not be in the play-in and not talking about this. I thought we played better the majority of the game tonight. They got the last stretch, and that’s what happens with the game of basketball. We’re a competitive group. We talked toward the end of the year we don’t want to be home early in the summer watching basketball; we had our opportunity. Just came up short.”

Even if Caruso didn’t think it would be with two minutes left and trailing 91-90 with the ball after Butler having missed a free throw and Caruso getting a good look for a three as Beverley returned.

“Pat Bev subbed back in (for White) and we all made eye contact and were pretty confident we were going to win the game,” said Caruso. “Just make plays and come back and win. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in.”

There obviously were a dozen or more shots or plays or near misses or almost that could have changed the outcome. But that Beverley substitution is one Bulls coach Billy Donovan probably will wonder about just as his players will recount their own unfulfilled tableaus.

White in the fourth quarter had made two of the most stone cold threes of his career with the arena exploding in noise. But Donovan said he was seeking the defensive repudiation that Beverley could provide.

“I just felt from a defensive standpoint and us needing to get some stops,” Donovan explained. “We tried to put Coby in some actions and went with Coby there for a little bit. He made that three and we kept him in there and then tried to change it up and do something a little different; maybe Pat Bev could get a steal, get a rebound. Just somehow get what he does. I (also) trust Pat Bev when he’s behind the line. Maybe it’s not his forte, but I do trust him to shoot the ball.”

It’s the unsympathetic line between genius and quagmire that every coach faces with every move. Like the great Johnny Kerr used to say when coaching the expansion Bulls, “There’s five guys running around out there with my paycheck.”

Make a steal and he’s a genius; miss a shot and the coach faces the churlish and the caustic.

So it was back in the third quarter when Donovan, who made some clever rotation alterations that helped change the outcome of the win in Toronto, went longer with backup center Drummond to Miami’s dismay. Miami unlike Toronto is a smaller team, usually weaker on the boards. But they are active and seek out threes. Donovan, for his part, generally prefers the smaller lineup rotations as evidenced by starting four guards since the acquisition of Beverley and the Bulls becoming one of the top five defenses in the league since then.

Donovan went first to Derrick Jones Jr. as a center substitute. But when Miami immediately went at him with Kevin Love, Donovan switched to Drummond as something of a first responder to the potential disaster. And it began to appear to be an turning point and antidote to Miami’s aggression.

With Miami still ahead late in the third quarter, Drummond offensive rebounded over them like playing in the schoolyard against first graders. Drummond scored on a putback and got an offensive rebound for a DeRozan score. That gave the Bulls a 68-67 lead after three quarters. Their redoubts began to seem like they would hold.

Then with the now nimble Drummond still on patrol to start the fourth quarter, the Bulls took their biggest lead at 81-75 with Drummond contributing a block on a Tyler Herro jumper, a cutting dunk on a Beverley pass and another tip in. Donovan usually goes back to Vučević four or five minutes into the fourth quarter, and he decided it was time with the Bulls leading 80-75 with 8:27 left in the game.

"I felt like Andre was getting it off the glass and scored some points, so I give him credit because I started off going small with Derrick against Love,” said Donovan. “Drum cleaned up some stuff and gave us really good minutes off the bench.Then brought him back in at the end of the third. I just felt (with Vučević) we needed some scoring out there. Tonight we scored 90-something points. We needed to score more and I thought Vooch being able to spread the floor, space the floor, get some downhill drives and Drum usually plays around the basket. Maybe he could have gotten some offensive rebounds. I thought we really needed some catch and shoot situations to close the game out and we did a fairly decent job.”

Though it wasn’t like the Bulls weren’t making plays.

LaVine had an excellent defensive possession one-on-one against Butler with Miami coming out of that timeout trailing 85-80 with a play for Butler. LaVine held his ground and forced Butler into an air ball. LaVine had five turnovers in the game. But after one with 4:12 left and the Bulls ahead 87-85, LaVine stole the ball right back from Caleb Martin. With 3:45 left, Caruso stripped Butler on a drive for a turnover with the Bulls leading 90-87. Again, it was another of those chances for separation that the Bulls couldn’t complete. White missed that layup, Herro scored and DeRozan missed and Butler put the Heat ahead for good at 91-90 with 2:17 left. Caruso then missed the three. Adebayo was fouled and scored, DeRozan split those free throws. And there went Max again.

“We played well for the most part,” said Caruso. “Didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. Max played one of the better games of his career; it stings. That’s the NBA and professional sports. You have to take care of business when you have the chance and if you don’t you put yourself behind the eight ball.”

It’s where the Bulls once again seemed from the start with Strus scoring the first 12 Miami points. It was 12-8 Miami with Caruso scoring all eight for the Bulls.&nbsp;

TNT halftime crew discuss: The Strus/Caruso shootout.

“There were a couple of times in the first half we didn’t rotate correctly (on Strus),” said Donovan. “I thought we got that solved that at halftime.”

Strus had 23 points in the first half, but Miami led just 49-44. Strus was then scoreless and zero for four in the third quarter.

I know; everyone is talking about Max Strus way too much.

It was one of those typical Bulls starts that by the end of the game no one asked about given the usual responses of being too casual and feeling out the opponent. Miami led 29-15 late in the first quarter before DeRozan and Vučević had a 6-0 close to get the Bulls within 29-21.

But despite the deficit, it still seemed like it should be a Bulls run. Kyle Lowry after a big game against Atlanta was limping and ineffective with knee problems. Butler had skipped the Heat’s Thursday practice for personal reasons. Miami last season was the No. 1 seed. This time they were fighting for No. 8. Was it even worth it anymore? There was much consensus whispered this was a “one, two, three Cancún” pregame chant. Large sections of the arena remained empty. Better to take in another sunset; instead of the Heat just simply dropping out of sight.

Not so for the Bulls who a playoff berth the way this fractious regular season has gone would be a big step toward next season. Even with having to face the Bucks starting Sunday.

It’s been raining relentlessly in South Florida (big surprise), and for both teams to start the second quarter that feeling of running in mud took over as Miami went blank for nine straight possessions and the Bulls missed on five of seven. But the Bulls were closing in. The officials in New York took a three away from Strus on an arbitrary review, Caruso made another three and LaVine slashed in for a three-point play to close the half with the Bulls trailing 49-44. But incongruously looking more poised.

Silencing the nettlesome Strus was becoming a Rorschach test for the Bulls. Could they continue to function under these pressures. Would they visualize a victory?

Vučević began to get the ball on those mismatches inside; LaVine scored twice on drives, and there was proof of life. 

With a 16-4 third quatter run, the Bulls took their first lead since early in he first quarter after two consecutive Caruso threes at 60-58 with 5:53 left in the third quarter. The lead toggled back and forth until Drummond beasted the Heat on the boards and the Bulls led 68-67 going into the fourth quarter.

Calling Big Mo. Would there be an answer?

Even bringing back Adebayo didn’t have much impact against Drummond to start the fourth quarter.

Butler had seemed somewhat indifferent much of the game, rarely driving the ball, standing inside waiting for passes. Through three quarters he was seven of 17 and often eschewing the defensive assignments on DeRozan.

But Butler began to predictably exert himself when the Bulls took that six-point lead in the fourth, a couple of drives, a steal on a LaVine pass and layup that woke up the Mojito sippers, bashing his way to the free throw line, as usual, and making the pass that got Strus the killer three.&nbsp;

“Disappointing,” sighed LaVine. “We have a lot of high-level players on this team. Somehow, some way you have to make it work. Top to bottom we have to do a better job thinking about the next person and finding out a way to win no matter what. We let too many slide the beginning of the year and then tried to pick it up later in the season in desperation mode. You come out another way it’s a whole new season.”

Which is all that’s left for the Bulls beginning next October. Though who will that include is one mystery for now.

“They are disappointed,” said Donovan. “When you go through this and make that investment from September to the middle of April, that’s a lot of time. I think they all are disappointed. I think we were getting better as a group since the All-Star break. It would have been nice to see if we could have found a way to win tonight and gone to the playoffs; it didn’t happen.”

Got a question for Sam?Submit your question to Sam at asksam@bulls.com

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Bulls suffer season-ending play-in loss to Miami

It’s often difficult to describe or categorize greatness in sports. But like that infamous quote once used by a Supreme Court justice, "I know it when I see it.” We in Chicago have seen it before; many, many times. And we know from whom. 

And then we saw it again Wednesday night in Toronto in a game that could have ended the Bulls season. And probably should have with the Bulls trailing by 16 points late in the third quarter. But Zach LaVine, perhaps Chicago’s most polarizing athlete for his promise and his peculiarities, produced probably one of the greatest clutch performances in franchise history and breathed life into the Bulls seemingly moribund season with 39 points, 30 in the second half, putting the hammer down on the Raptors before they could put the final nail in the coffin of the Bulls season as the Bulls defeated the Raptors 109-105.

The Bulls now travel to Miami Friday for another elimination game and the chance to open the playoffs Sunday in Milwaukee. That’s now possible because LaVine basically looked around, suggested follow me. And when no one then did, LaVine essentially played the bugle, rode the horse and fired shot after shot that won this battle.

“Just be aggressive and get it close before the fourth quarter,” LaVine said about his 11 straight points to close the third quarter after the Bulls had trailed 77-63 with about two and a half minutes remaining.

That’s when all that seemed left was the results of the autopsy. But suddenly it began to feel like a chance with the Bulls trailing by just nine after three quarters.

“He made big plays, got us back into the game,” said Nikola Vučević. “Us switching one through five (with Derrick Jones Jr. subbing in) slowed them down a little bit. And when we made that run to cut to nine at the end of the third, that kind of shocked them a little bit and gave us life and got us back into the game.”

The Raptors had one more surge, starting the fourth quarter 6-2 to lead 87-75. But LaVine, who sat out only about one minute in the second half, went right back to the basket, was fouled and two more of his 15 free throw attempts of which he made 13. It’s a different LaVine who no longer settles for a stream of jump shots after navigating for space.

Then after a Patrick Beverley block on O.G. Anunoby, LaVine took off and pulled up from 26 feet for a three to get the Bulls within 87-82 with nine minutes left. Game on.

“I knew when he took that three in transition and made it he was in a flow,” said Alex Caruso. “He’s a dynamic player. He can shoot over the top and is so athletic he can get by you.”

And it became bye bye Raptors as Caruso and Beverley swung into action, each making a three and harassing the shell shocked Raptors, who missed 18 of 36 free throws in the game and two of three with 12 seconds left to tie when Caruso—ooops—fouled Pascal Siakam on a three.

“Just tried to get it close,” said LaVine. “We weren’t doing terrible on defense. We just weren’t getting good breaks. Offensively, we were slow getting downhill. I wanted to be aggressive attacking. And once that happened, I think the rhythm for the whole team got going. I get going I’m going to throw them up with confidence. About a month before All-Star break I started feeling like myself and you (media) guys could see that. The numbers showed it (27 points on 40 percent three-point shooting since the All-Star break). I wanted to take it into these play-in games. For me, it was be aggressive and throw it all out there.”

The statistics don’t officially count in NBA records for the play-in tournament. But it was an elimination game for the season, and you probably can count on one hand in Bulls franchise history when a player has produced like that in such a pressure situation. And especially in coming from behind and on the road, and, well this just doesn’t happen.

“He was great,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “He was assertive, he was aggressive, very, very decisive. When he does that I feel he’s at his best, when he doesn’t survey and hold the ball, when he’s in attack mode. Drive it, pass it. He really is incredibly difficult to guard and it’s hard to load up. He was a huge part part closing that third quarter and gave us some life.

“Alex, Bev came back in the game with Vooch and DeMar. That was a big factor, too,” said Donovan. “But what he (LaVine) did at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth, it would have been very, very difficult for us to have won that game if he had not done that. His performance was extraordinary and it gave us life and it gave us hope. Once we got back into it a lot of guys made a lot of plays. But I give it to him for the mentality to do whatever he can to help us get back in the game.”

DeRozan had 23 points. Vučević had 14 points and 13 rebounds, Patrick Williams had 10 points and Coby White nine making all four of his shot attempts.

But that is was LaVine who saved the Bulls season was perhaps both appropriate and unexpected.

LaVine did get a maximum payment contract extension to begin the season at a time when he still was working his way back from offseason knee surgery that limited his play and even had him on a reduced playing schedule. So the criticism and questions mounted about not only whether he was deserving, but whether the Bulls deserved to move forward with and around LaVine. There were undercurrents about disagreements with the coach and then reports of internal criticisms back in November after a devastating loss in Minnesota. But LaVine stayed firm and continued to work his knee back into condition. And then he was easily the Bulls most productive player the last two months.

But what about in those big moments which have always brought a cascade of questions and second guessing about LaVine since he was acquired in the trade for Jimmy Butler that began the Bulls rebuilding project in 2017?&nbsp;

“I actually saw a tweet today,” Vučević was musing in the locker room post game. “Something random popped up on my feed, ‘When are we going to see a big game from Zach in a big moment?’ I never told him about it. I’m sure that guy feels stupid now writing that.

“Zach has been huge for us since the All-Star break playing at a high level, and tonight in the third the way he took over was very impressive making big shot after big shot and taking it to the rim,” admired Vučević. “He really stepped up and made huge plays. You can see the poise, the decision making; everything is really coning together. Had a huge game and led us to a big win. Tonight he came out and showed the full package. When he plays like that we’re a whole different team. It takes us to a whole different level because the defense has to focus on him. He can make plays for others and it opens everything up.”

Which didn’t seem possible the way this game was going with the Raptors doing everything their advantage suggested from the start, causing turnovers with their arm length and quickness, dominating the boards 50-36 in the game and 16-8 on the offensive boards and 22-8 on second chance points. The Bulls were seven of 26 on threes and shooting 14 fewer free throws.

It seems DeRozan’s daughter, Diar, was sitting courtside behind one of the basket and shrieking every time a Raptors player shot a free throw. Missing 18 had to be one of the poorest such performances in a notable game.

“She went viral,” DeRozan said with a laugh after the game. “I haven’t let it soak in. I kept hearing something and there was a free throw and somebody missed and I looked back and, ‘Damn, that’s my daughter screaming?’”

DeRozan said she got a day off from school for this game, but not for Miami. No help there, but maybe Zach is enough.

“Amazing, he carried us,” agreed DeRozan. “He was aggressive downhill. He put his will on the game and we all followed behind offensively and defensively; that’s why he is who he is. I knew it was coming when I saw his feet start moving fast. Nobody can guard him getting downhill. He was making plays; tonight was fun. Nobody kind of panicked. We put ourselves in a hole and understood what we had to do to get ourselves out; that’s what we did.

“(Because of) how special he is,” DeRozan added about LaVine as they sat side by side in the post season media conference. “There are not too many people in this league that have the talent he has. It feels good to be able to see him get appreciated. I know how hard he works and how much he cares about the game, and a hell of a person. It’s great to see the appreciation that comes because of the talent he has. I’ve always been a fan of his before I came to Chicago. Now to be able to share every moment means a lot. It’s definitely dope to see it; it was amazing.”

The Raptors were up nine in the first quarter, led by five after one, ahead by 11 with that half court shot and pulling away throughout the third quarter. Siakam with 32 points was posting up the Bulls smaller guards and VanVleet was making threes, seven of 13, the nightmare scenario the Bulls feared playing the Raptors, who had beaten them two of three this season. It seemed like it was time to pack, though these Bulls don’t pack it in.

“Our guys kept fighting,” said Vučević. “It wasn’t always pretty, but we kept making big plays and Zach and DeMar were huge in the fourth. Defensively, we did a good job in the end, especially when we started switching. Great team effort. They missed a lot of free throws which helped us, but that’s sometimes how it goes. They played really well the first three quarters and we make a big run with Zach and it gave us life and we were able to turn things around after that. This year we’ve shown we don’t stop fighting and we don’t stop believing.”

And who knows with that and LaVine where it could go.

zach-lavines-39-points-fuels-bulls-to-comeback-play-in-victory-in-toronto

Zach LaVine's 39 points fuels Bulls to comeback play-in victory in Toronto

And so ends the marathon, the Bulls 2022-23 regular season mercifully coming to an end Sunday afternoon in an anticlimactic 103-81 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Pistons coach Dwane Casey resigned as soon as the game ended with the Bulls risen to 40-42 for the season. The events appeared to be mutually exclusive.

So now begins the climactic and potentially fun part, the post season sprint that for the Bulls begins 6 p.m. Wednesday in Toronto with the start of the play-in tournament for the Bulls. The Bulls have to win that game, and then if they do, play Friday in either Atlanta or Miami to qualify for the playoffs, which would begin Sunday in Milwaukee. 

“We understand what they do and how Nick (Nurse, Raptors coach) makes adjustments and different traps,” said Zach LaVine, who led the Bulls Sunday with 17 points with no starters playing into the fourth quarter. “I think it’s going to be about offensive rebounding, transition. It’s going to be the smaller things that I think get us over the top. Your guys must step up. There’s nothing for me to be told or I have to hear. We understand that regardless of who you are or how you play, we have to go out there and win the game. That’s what it is.&nbsp;

“One and done,” noted LaVine. “Go and throw it all out there and see what will happen.”

So the Bulls, with practices this week, begin focusing on the Raptors, who won two of three from the Bulls this season. Though two of the games were in early November before LaVine was even playing in back-to-back games because of his off-season knee surgery. So there’s not much to extrapolate. 

Much like the Bulls hope from this mercurial regular season that a good week would, if not erase, certainly help mitigate.

“I’ll have time to reflect on the 82,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “But looking at it in totality, the results were disappointing, quite honesty. There were a lot of different variables that played a part of that. We didn’t close games very well. Our consistency has been up and down. We’ve had some crazy plays happen at the end of games where we came up on the losing end. 

“There were some really, really good moments, and some moments that were not so good,” Donovan acknowledged. “You’d like to obviously be in a situation now where you are in the playoffs. But we’ve got to work and find a way to get to that point. So we have work in front of us. I think this group has stayed together. They have tried to work through things. They have tried to get better. The consistency part was a challenge this year. We had some very difficult, tough losses on game ending shots; that happens sometimes. But I think these guys from a work standpoint of trying to play together and work together and play for one another, I feel they’ve tried to do that. I think we made some real positive gains and growth defensively. Offensively, we had our struggles. But I think after the All-Star break we started to play better offensively. You always look at the end result of where we finished and that part was disappointing. But I’ve never seen these guys waver and not fight.

“That being said, we’ve still put ourselves in position to play after tonight,” said Donovan. “I’m excited those guys have been able to put themselves in that position. So what we’ve got to do is prepare to play Toronto, go up there and be at our best.”

It was a difficult season and somewhat unexpected after last season’s 46-36 record. Point guard Lonzo Ball never did return from surgery, which was a major setback. His status now remains in question for next season. Donovan did admit not having a regular or traditional point guard made the team’s offense too predictable. Though the Bulls overall were one of the healthier teams in the league among their best players. The belief had been they could leverage that into a solid if not seismic improvement.

Nikola Vučević and Patrick Williams both played all 82 games, a rarity in the NBA these days and one of the more commendable feats for this NBA. LaVine even with his early season back-to-back limitations blew past that and only missed five games. DeRozan missed eight.

LaVine ended up as the team’s leading scorer at 24.8 per game with an all-world post All-Star break run averaging 28.3 points and shooting 44 percent on threes. Despite the difficulty of so many shots, LaVine shot 49 percent overall for the season. DeRozan averaged  24.5 points and surprisingly was second to the kinetic Alex Caruso in steals. Williams led the team in three-point shooting at 42 percent. Vučević averaged 17.6 points and 11 rebounds. Williams was the only other Bull other than the Big Three to average in double figures at 10.2.

But an under. 500 season and 10th in the conference wasn’t anticipated after last season, and especially with a reset against some of the league’s best teams.

“Vooch, DeMar and Zach had good years,” said Donovan. “I would have liked to have seen us generate more threes. I really felt based on what happened last year and the way we closed last season (13 of 19 losses and 4-1 playoff loss), we were way more competitive this year. Which I thought was an improvement from last year. Last year we were like 2-15 against top seeds in the East and West; this season I thought we made a really nice jump and how we were playing on both ends of the floor helped us against those teams.”

But there were those idiosyncratic shots.

Maybe some teams had more desperation game winners against them, but it would be difficult to imagine the Bulls whack-a-mole luck starting with Orlando’s Jalen Suggs and continuing through Tyrese Haliburton, A.J. Griffin, De’Aaron Fox, Kyle Kuzma and Donovan Mitchell’s mendacious finish that led to overtime and his record 71 points.

Those two-minute reports just rubbed it in more with DeRozan against Indiana, the Clippers and Washington with what should have or could have been game changing free throws. It’s what makes for fewer happier endings.

“I think we’ve had so many highs and so many lows, so many ups and downs,” said DeRozan. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad, the bad with the good; that’s a season. I don’t know nobody who’s had a perfect season. For us to go through so much it builds so much character you have to find enjoyment in it, how we pulled together. We had moments throughout the season where we tested each other and we came together and I feel we became closer and more locked in.”

There were plenty of those cathartic and celebratory times.

DeRozan did have a winner against the Knicks, which we always cherish. And Ayo Dosunmu had a classic putback winner in Atlanta that famously buried John Collins. There was the time the Bulls made the Bucks look like turkeys for a real Thanksgiving meal after taking two straight from the Celtics. There was the no doubt sweep of the Miami Heat that began from the first day of the season in Miami. And that audacious season saving road trip sweep that truly resonated after the 150 points given up in Minnesota with wins in Miami, Atlanta and New York.&nbsp;

The Bulls ended Joel Embiid’s dominance, and in Philadelphia, no less, and even more concluded the MVP sweep by beating Nikola Jokić in Denver. LeBron came back in L.A. to much ado and then got done in by the Bulls. Memphis went down with Ja in an historic comeback that left jaws agape. Before Durant and Kyrie were traded, and perhaps that was why, they lost to the Bulls twice with both playing. So the Bulls despite the negative milepost did show they impressively could take some dangerous turns. 

“We can put all those emotions we felt throughout the year and understand what that is and be prepared for it,” said the introspective, if also intrepid DeRozan. “It’s just us still having an opportunity and taking advantage of that is something we have to lean on. Everything else for me I won’t reflect on until everything is done.”

bulls-dismantle-pistons-in-regular-season-finale-103-81

Bulls dismantle Pistons in regular season finale, 103-81

We’ve actually been trying to subdue Canada for a long time. We tried it during the Revolutionary War and again during the War of 1812. Both times American forces failed. So perhaps it’s the Bulls who can salvage American pride Wednesday when they try to advance in the play-in tournament by beating Canada’s pride, the Toronto Raptors.

“The biggest challenge we’ve had against them is their size,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said in quotes supplied by the Mavericks media staff Friday night after the Bulls defeated the Dallas Mavericks 115-112. “They (Toronto) play really big; they’re long. And they are a really good offensive rebounding team. There’s been some games this year we’ve done a good job defensive rebounding, and there’s been some games the rebounding has really hurt us. The transition when shots go up, their ability, their length and their size. They’re so big that collectively, as a group, we’ll have to do a good job rebounding.”

That will be 6 p.m. or 6:30 Wednesday in Toronto on ESPN when the Bulls face the Raptors in the one-game elimination. If the Bulls lose, their 2022-23 NBA season is over. If the Bulls win, they go to Atlanta or Miami to play the loser of that play-in game, which will be Tuesday on TNT. If the Bulls win both games, they would qualify as the eighth seed for the playoffs and open in Milwaukee, probably April 16.

The Raptors held a 2-1 edge in games between the teams this season, though all were close into the fourth quarter.&nbsp;

In the three games, the Bulls averaged 113.2 and the Raptors 112.9. Toronto averaged about one more rebound per game and the Bulls one more assist. Toronto led in steals and blocks, but the Bulls shot better overall. The Bulls shot 36 percent on threes and the Raptors 34 percent. Toronto was 26-14 at home and the Bulls were 18-23 on the road.&nbsp;

Both teams play similarly in that neither shoots many threes or shoots them well, and both rely on active defense and turnovers to energize their offenses. Toronto star Pascal Siakam missed two of the three games and Zach LaVine missed one. The Raptors added center Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline and the Bulls added Patrick Beverley at the All-Star break in a buyout.

The matchup was virtually settled after the Bulls lost in Milwaukee Wednesday, but then finally determined with Friday’s games.

Which for the Bulls, now 39-42, was a bit less of an embarrassment than it was for the NBA.

The Bulls didn't play starters Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Beverley, which suggested they didn’t want to win. And really had little reason to considering their 10th spot in the play-in was certified already. And if the Bulls don’t get out of the play-in, they go into the draft lottery and their odds would be better to retain their top four pick from the Nikola Vučević trade with a loss. Though with Vučević determined to play all 82 games in what is a rarity in the NBA these days, the Bulls did at least try not to shame the game.

Which the Mavericks didn’t worry much about as they benched most of their regulars and played Luka Dončić basically just the first quarter, when he had 13 points and pretty much got to the basket whenever he wanted. But with a chance to make the play-in tournament, the Mavericks essentially forfeited the game to stay in the draft lottery and protect their draft pick. The Knicks from a prior trade get it if it’s not in the top 10. The Mavericks came into the game tied in the loss column with Oklahoma City for the last play-in spot. And obviously decided to lose the game to assure draft entry to the apparent horror of coach Jason Kidd, who before the game indicated it wasn’t his idea while trying to keep his job.

You know that Willie Nelson song they sing down there in Texas, Mama, don’t let your babies buy late season NBA tickets.

The Bulls fielded the remnants of an actual lineup with Vučević playing until the fourth quarter and adding another double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Coby White, finally in charge at point guard, had his best game of the season with 24 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. And Patrick Williams added 23 points and eight rebounds.

“Just wanted to help lead the team to a win,” White said in comments on the Bulls TV broadcast. “Being on the ball ... all game just trying to run the offense and get everyone organized and trying to get shots in rhythm and lead us to a win. We (with Williams) have a great relationship off the court and I think that leads onto the court. He’s a big time player and he made big time plays in the second half and fourth quarter. Just trying to come in and get everyone into a nice little rhythm and get prepared for the post season.”

And still trailed most of the game until the Mavericks really got desperate and went most of the fourth quarter with Theo Pinson, McKinley Wright IV and A.J. Lawson. The Mavericks, though, seemed to make it more complicated than they needed to. They just had to play Kyrie Irving, whose presence after the February trade basically ruined the Mavericks season. They were fourth in the conference when the trade was made and went 9-17 afterwards and 5-11 when he played with Doncic. Irving was held out against the Bulls, which perhaps explained the Mavericks nearly winning.

Dallas led by three points after the first quarter and 67-54 at halftime. With Williams scoring 10 points in the third, the Bulls cut Dallas’ lead to 91-85 going into the fourth quarter. The Bulls finally went to their G League reserves in the fourth quarter and got a pair of threes and a crucial steal from G League MVP Carlik Jones and eight fourth quarter points from Terry Taylor with White driving and finding Taylor inside for scores. Andre Drummond and Marko Simonović were active but did not play.

Still, the Mavericks had three chances to tie the game with threes in the last seconds when Taylor and Derrick Jones Jr. missed four consecutive free throws. But Wright missed twice as he was the right guy for Dallas’ aim, and Lawson missed once.

“The game was good for our guys to be able to compete in a game like that where it wasn’t going well,” said Donovan. “I think they had seven or eight turnovers in the first half. We got down by double digits, they made a (half court) three to close the half out. We didn’t do a great job getting close enough on the inbound pass. We kind of just back peddled and kind of gave them a runner. We kind of just battled through the game. I give our guys credit. We just kind of hung in there and kept competing, kept battling, and I thought that closing unit with Coby and it’s unfortunate Patrick had to go out with the stitches. Terry gave us great minutes, Derrick Jones Jr. gave us great minutes and Coby. I thought Carlik played really well for us, too. It was good for those guys to get that opportunity on the road to have to come from behind and play in a close game like that.”

No one from the Chicago media was at the game, so there was no elaboration about the stitches. Which also raised a classic metaphysical question. If a basketball goes through a net and there’s no one to write about it, does it count?

We may love this game. But we certainly didn’t love that game.

It became an English colony after the Seven Years’ War, which we in America call the French and Indian War, when the British captured it from France. And despite that proper British status they chant, “We the North” in Toronto apparently fully unaware of the grammatical inaccuracy. Instead of perfectly clear as we in Chicago do, Da Bears! Betcha de don’t even have brats dere.&nbsp;

We really wanted it one time. Sent Benedict Arnold up there when he still was a hero before he became a bad guy and he lost. Even with Ethan Allen with him before Allen opened all those furniture stores. We were sure we could add Canada to the original colonies and cut off the British from the north. They really were the North then.&nbsp;

It actually was that French and Indian War thing that led to the American Revolution since that’s where all that taxation without representation stuff came from when the British spent so much money winning that war in what they said was to protect the weak colonies. So pay up, you Yankees.

Then we tried again in 1812 while the British were busy burning Washington, though no one got indicted. We couldn’t break through then, either, and settled the thing when Andrew Jackson kicked the Spanish out of Florida. Hey, if you’re going to have spring break better to own Florida than Toronto.

And now it’s another chance to plant the American flag in Canada so the Bulls can move on to better weather in Atlanta or Miami. George Washington couldn’t; neither could James Madison. Could this be what the Pat Bev Effect really was meant for?

bulls-knock-off-dallas-despite-no-lavine-derozan

Bulls knock off Dallas despite no LaVine, DeRozan

The number 10 used to be a desirable designation.

There was the 10 Commandments from the Bible, and Thursday being the first night of the Jewish holiday Passover, it celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from Egypt when 10 plagues were brought down on the Egyptians. It once was a chauvinistic designation for women which produced a movie starring Bo Derek as the perfect 10. Few men were involved rating out primarily as 2s and 3s. It now mostly gets you free french fries at Portillos when you rate the staff a 10. It’s the address of the British prime minister, and in sports famous for the numbers worn by Pele and Messi, and the New York controversy when Earl Monroe wearing No. 10 for the Bullets was traded to the Knicks to play with star guard No. 10 Walt Frazier. 

And now it’s the Bulls chance to make history with No. 10, that being with Wednesday’s 105-92 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks which clinched the final, 10th place play-in tournament position for the Bulls next Wednesday April 12, either in Toronto or Atlanta. If the Bulls were to win, they’d play the loser of the 7/8 game to qualify for the eight-team NBA playoffs.

No 10th place play-in team, albeit in the short history of the competition going back to the “bubble” 2020 NBA season, has advanced to the NBA playoffs. But there’s always those first times, you know.

“I always believe if you have a chance, you have a way,” said DeMar DeRozan, who played with the 10th place San Antonio Spurs in the 2021 edition when they lost 100-96 to Memphis. “We have a chance, so we have to make a way. Things are going to be exciting. Can’t miss this opportunity, coming down to a one-game elimination. I had a chance to play in one when it first started. Everything about the game keeps you on edge. It’s an opportunity for us to make the playoffs, so that’s how we have to look at it.

“You pack a bag, and you’ve got to pack with the understanding if you win you have to go somewhere else,” said DeRozan, planning for the two games. You’ve got to pack for a couple of days. I think everyone is going to understand packing your bag we’re not just going to play one game. You’ve got to take it to another level going into these play-in games because there’s no more, ‘We could of had that one.’ ‘We let that one get away; we played great.’ You’ve got to put all the chips on the table and go all in and understand the way we beat the big teams this year what happened, what was our mindset, how we did it and go in with that approach.”

Which at least for now looks like the Bulls starting in Toronto, where DeRozan played most of his NBA career, and who beat the Bulls two of three this season.

“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,” DeRozan said about the Raptors being a potential first hurdle. “I think it would be fun. It would be very exciting; it would be real cool.”

Which didn’t much describe the Bulls final serious effort of the regular season in Milwaukee, where the Bucks with the win clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. And did so without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton leaving with a sore knee in the second quarter after missing three shots.

But it was another disappointingly dispassionate effort from the Bulls, though the Bucks even off the bench bring one of the more fierce defensive units. DeRozan in 36 minutes was held to eight points on three of 12 shooting—“It won’t happen again; I guarantee that,” he said. “I think the last time I made a guarantee it was something good out of it. It won’t happen again.”—and Zach LaVine was five of 17 for 13 points.

Nikola Vučević led the Bulls with his 50th double-double of the season with 21 points and 13 rebounds and Coby White rebounded with 14 points off the bench. But the bigger Bucks bashed the Bulls on the boards 53-38 led by Bobby Portis with 27 points and Brook Lopez with 26. Jrue Holiday made big shots after the Bulls took a 10-point lead early in the third quarter and finished with 20 points and 15 assists, though also seven turnovers.

The Bulls without a resting Alex Caruso did what they do best with 18 points off turnovers and at least early moved the ball well with 28 assists in the game. But once again a desultory start trailing 13-5 and not enough response when the Bucks hit them with a 15-0 third quarter run was too much to overcome.

“You don’t want to ease your way in at all (to games),” LaVine agreed. “It happened versus Memphis and we were able to come back. Obviously, we don’t try to get down. Sometimes teams make shots. We just have to be the more aggressive team offensively and defensively, especially in a play-in. You have to be more desperate than the other team because whoever wins wants it more. You’ve got to throw it all out there because every possession is going to matter. If you don’t win you’re done. Better throw it all out there regardless of how you are playing or feeling; try to win it as a team.”

The Bulls fell to 38-42 in what has to be considered a distinctly disappointing season after going 46-36 last season. Especially because the Bulls three primary players have all had healthy seasons. Vučević has played every game. LaVine missed four only early in the season with knee maintenance. DeRozan has missed seven games. It’s as few among the main players of any team in the league.

Though things could change for a few days with the play-in seeding fixed.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan indicated that those three may sit out Friday in Dallas to rest, though he expects them to play at least some in the regular season finale Sunday in the United Center against the Detroit Pistons.

“My feeling would be Zach, DeMar, Vooch, the guys who have logged a lot of minutes, would sit down with medical and determine the game against Dallas,” said Donovan. “My feeling is they have to play some against Detroit unless obviously someone has an injury. I think to take two games off where they are so used to playing, I think that rhythm is important. I’m not saying they have to play their normal rotation, but they’ve got to be out there I would think unless medical feels physically it would do a lot of good if they didn’t play this game.”

To their credit, none of those Bulls primary three like to miss games or find reasons to. DeRozan said his preference is to retain his timing for playing. Though it might be smart now to sit down for one game considering the stakes.

“It’s always tricky because you want to find and keep a rhythm and you don’t want to feel you are having too much rest, have rust going into a one-game elimination,” said DeRozan. “It is tricky, but I never try to think past tomorrow. Come Friday I’ll see how I feel. For the most part, we’ve got to have a rhythm individually and team wise; we’ll talk about that.”

It should make for some serious discussion after two failed golden opportunities to move up and perhaps even get a home court game in the play-in, Tuesday with Trae Young out for the Hawks and Wednesday without Antetokounmpo and basically Middleton. But the Bulls were outplayed in both games. They’ll now fail to finish the season at .500. They had a nine-year run of finishing at least .500 every season before starting the rebuilding project with the Jimmy Butler trade in 2017. It seemed they’d crossed that Rubicon with last season’s 10 game over trip.

The Bulls this season now fall at least two games below .500 (statistics and records are not counted for the play-in). Though the last time the Bulls had this sort of shockingly disappointing and unexpected season was 2007-08 after winning 49 games and falling to 33-49. And then hitting the chance jackpot in the draft lottery and drawing the rights to the No. 1 pick and Derrick Rose. Three seasons later the Bulls led the NBA in wins.

And at least this season unlike last the Bulls have shown they can compete with and beat some of the best with wins on the road in Denver, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Miami and New York.

“Obviously, last year how fast we started and it fell off a little bit at the end,” recalled LaVine. “Had some good games in the playoffs, but obviously it wasn’t enough to beat Milwaukee. This season started off slow and finally began to get some traction, some rhythm. Didn’t catch up enough ground to solidify ourselves in the playoffs, but we gave ourselves an opportunity to play in. So you take what you can and let the chips fall where they may. I think we’re going to be confident. You have to be going into these games; you don’t take anybody lightly. It’s a one-game elimination, so we have to go out there and earn respect and win the game. I think we’ll be feeling fine.”

Which would be a reversal from the last few games with dreary starts and truncated comebacks. It was some awful basketball to start for the national ESPN game not only missing the Bucks superstar, but the basket too often by both teams.

The Bulls started two of 11, called time out, and then came out with a turnover. They finally got a bit going with an early Derrick Jones Jr. substitution and eight first quarter points from Vucevic as the Bucks led 28-21.

Game Recap

Bulls stumble in second Summer League game, Freeman-Liberty scores 24

Bulls suffer season-ending play-in loss to Miami

Zach LaVine's 39 points fuels Bulls to comeback play-in victory in Toronto

Bulls dismantle Pistons in regular season finale, 103-81

Bulls knock off Dallas despite no LaVine, DeRozan

Bulls locked into 10 seed, will play Toronto or Atlanta in NBA play-in tournament

Bulls fall to Hawks, 123-105

Bulls rally past Memphis, 128-107