10 observations: Bulls lose to Thunder as Zach LaVine sits with foot soreness originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
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The Chicago Bulls dropped to 5-11 following Wednesday night’s 116-102 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Here are 10 observations from the defeat:
—The losses began before tipoff when Zach LaVine sat with right foot soreness. LaVine landed on the injury report for the first time Tuesday night, but the team listed him as probable. Given that LaVine typically plays through injuries, he warmed up with the expectation to play. But LaVine still missed his first game of the season.
“As he continued through his workout, it started to bother him,” Donovan told reporters in Oklahoma City following the game. “He was trying to work his way through it.”
—Coach Billy Donovan slipped Patrick Williams back into the starting lineup in LaVine’s absence. With DeMar DeRozan missing one game for personal reasons, LaVine sitting with injury for the first time and Donovan trying Williams, Torrey Craig and Alex Caruso as starting power forwards, it marked the fifth different lineup in Game No. 16.
—The new look couldn’t prevent an old look—a slow start offensively. The Bulls missed their first six shots and took 2 minutes, 9 seconds to score on a Nikola Vucevic putback. The Bulls, who are the NBA’s lowest-scoring, first-quarter team with an average of 24.7 points, managed just 14 points on 4-for-23 shooting in the opening period. That included 2-for-11 and two airballs from 3-point range. Fittingly, the Bulls’ lone first-quarter turnover came on a shotclock violation.
—The Bulls failed to crack 40 first-half points for the fourth time in the last five games. DeRozan missed his first seven shots. The Bulls somehow shot only 4-for-22 on 2-pointers in the first half. That’s 18.2 percent. That’s hard to do. If not for Coby White’s six first-half 3-pointers, it would’ve been even uglier.
—White followed his first 20-point game of the season with 23 points, including 7-for-12 from 3-point range. White has had plenty on his plate in his role as starting point guard, including more defensive responsibility. He struggled to shoot in the early stages of the season, but him heating up from beyond the arc could be an offensive boon.
—Caruso lengthened his longest stretch of consecutive double-figure scoring games to seven with 12 points. Caruso has talked about the work he put in this offseason to work on his 3-point shot. But he’s also been much better at not passing up shots and stepping into shots with confidence.
—Unfortunately at the defensive end, Caruso, nor anybody else, had an answer for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The superstar slithered his way to 40 points and 12 assists, often just simply solving solid defense. He’s that good. He also shot 17-for-18 from the free-throw line as the Bulls put the Thunder there 38 times. It’s hard to win with such a free-throw disparity. The Thunder shot 31-for-38, while the Bulls didn’t miss but only got to the line 17 times.
—The Bulls, who trailed by as many as 18, did their usual comeback rush and tied the game twice in the third quarter. But they faded down the stretch of another winnable game and committed a costly 24-second shotclock violation with 3:39 left following Nikola Vucevic’s offensive rebound of a Patrick Williams miss. Gilgeous-Alexander followed with a hoop for a seven-point Thunder lead.
—DeRozan overcame his slow start to finish with 25 points, including 13-for-13 from the free-throw line. In the process, DeRozan became the 36th player in NBA history to score 22,000 or more points. He also shot 6-for-10 after his 0-for-7 start.
—After the loss, Donovan told reporters in Oklahoma City: “Our guys are really trying. It’s hard to overcome 4-for-23. But they’re fighting and trying and competing. They’re down a scorer in Zach. But I give them credit for staying in and battling their way back in the game.”
Defensively, Donovan said he wants the Bulls to improve their communication in defensive transition and to show hands without fouling. He also said, while acknowledging Gilgeous-Alexander’s starpower, that the rotations were a bit slow.
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