Muristek
Billy Donovan wanted adversity.
The Bulls coach is getting it, and then some.
For the second-straight game, the Bulls fought and clawed to get a game into overtime, only to see it slip away in heartbreaking fashion.
After Atlanta got them on Sunday, it was a much more familiar face on Wednesday, with Tom Thibodeau’s New York Knicks coming into the United Center for the first of two consecutive games, and pulling away in Game 1 with a 128-120 win.
Iron may sharpen iron, but right now at 11-16, the Bulls look very dull.
“I think we’re fighting and competing, but there’s detailed things that we’ve got to get better at,’’ Donovan said. “The disciplined stuff hurt us.’’
It seemingly always does. Or at least some sort of detail that’s lacking does.
“Just got to do a better job of paying attention to the details earlier in the game,’’ veteran guard Alex Caruso said. “We’ve had games this year where we’ve put it together and looked really good. Problem is some nights we’re not there for 48 minutes, and that’s just the difference in professional sports. If you’re not locked in for the full game, it’s kind of a coin flip at the end.’’
Getting outscored 11-3 in the overtime was hardly a coin flip, and neither was the Bulls’ 3-11 record in clutch games so far this season. Much different last year, when the Bulls were fourth in that category. That’s what had Donovan worried in that 2021-22 campaign – too many magical moments where the ball bounced their way.
His hope was some adversity this season would toughen this roster into a mentality that was more sustainable, but so far that hasn’t been the case. Evident by the fact that the Bulls were currently dead last in clutch games.
“I know the character of the guys and how competitive we are,’’ Caruso said. “We don’t have guys that will just fold. That’s not our MO.’’
What has been their MO, however, was digging themselves a hole in the first half.
That remained an all-too familiar blueprint for this team, and one that they still had trouble explaining. What was also familiar was how the Bulls fell into that hole, allowing the opposition to once again have a field day from beyond the three-point line.
New York came into the night dead last in three-point percentage, sitting at 31.9% for the season.
All they did in the first 24 minutes was go 8-for-17 (47.1%) from three, taking a 65-55 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Bulls did get back into the game going into the fourth, and it looked like the Knicks would have the final say, as Julius Randle went isolation on Patrick Williams with 24.1 left in the fourth quarter, but all Randle could get out of the possession was an air ball that left one prayer for the Bulls to try and pull off with 0.1 seconds left.
Like Atlanta did to them Sunday night, the Bulls tried the alley-oop from the inbounds, with Caruso throwing the ball up to Williams. But Williams was no A.J. Griffin, as the pass and attempt failed.
Then it all fell apart in the overtime.
“We were in a little bit of trouble, but we found a way to get the game into overtime,’’ Donovan said. “We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. I thought we really competed. The challenge for us was we really got caught in a lot of situations of leaving our feet, which led to a lot of fouls, and then the other part of it too was we really got hurt on the glass.’’