Zach Lavin put his hands on his knees and he had played 39 minutes on the pitch. The bull had nothing more to say, and in any case, there were no new words.
Failure is so quick in such a familiar way, what else is there to say?
"We've said enough." Lavin said after the game, "We've said enough morale-boosting words, had enough meetings, whatever it is to lift our spirits. That's what we're going to do now. It's time to stop the discussion. ”
On March 25, Beijing time, the Chicago Bulls challenged the New Orleans Pelicans. Pelicans guard Derwent Graham shot 8-of-12 from the field, including five three-pointers, a season-high 30; C.J. McCollum contributed 25 points and six assists to give the Pelicans a 126-109 win over the Bulls.
It was the Bulls' 10th loss in their last 13 games, and they have also lost five of their last six games. In the closing stages of the regular season, the Bulls' record has been declining and they are facing the risk of falling out of the top six in the East. Not so long ago, the team was in the echelon of championship contenders, but in recent weeks they have behaved like a team that will be eliminated in the first round.
Before the game, the Bulls officially announced that DeMar DeRozan was absent from the game due to a left adductor strain. In DeRozan's absence, the Bulls' already low fault tolerance rate has been lowered. LaVine had to carry the team's offensive banner alone, and LaVine cut a season-high 39 points and 3 rebounds and 3 assists, doing his best to make up for the team's offensive deficiencies, but still unable to return to the sky.
Lavin said: "The whole season will experience ups and downs. Teams are starting to go all out to prepare for the playoffs and see if they can do anything about it. We have to start reclaiming our own basketball identity. ”
"We can't afford to concede 126 points in one game. A tribute must be paid to the Pelicans for taking off their hats. But if we were a playoff team, we would never have been able to come up with the kind of performance we had today. It's frustrating, and it's clear that we're trying to figure out how we can get back to rhythm. "We have to start identifying our weaknesses and then overcoming them." ”
The bull's problem is not whether they can find their weaknesses, the key is whether they can accurately repair their weaknesses.
LaVine scored 23 points in the first half, but as the Bulls' fundamental problems resurfaced, LaVine's scoring became irrelevant. The Bulls led 39-31 into the second quarter, after which the Bulls were still one point behind at the end of the half, bearing in mind that the Bulls shot 56% from the field in the first half and shot 10 of 18 from three-point range.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said: "I was a little worried at halftime. You're one point behind, and your three-pointers are 10-of-18. Grabbing rebounds, conceding goals, letting the opposite side play transitions, all these things (all a little worried). ”
The opening stage heralded a long and frustrating night the Bulls would experience. Since Lonzo Ball's absence in mid-January, the Bulls' outside defense has been precarious. They simply couldn't control the Pelicans' Graham and McCollum that day, and they both scored nine points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first quarter and 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting at the end of the first half. Meanwhile, the Bulls' backcourts Ayo Dosem and Alex Caruso combined for 0-of-7 shooting, with just two points and three assists.
Donovan also commented that "our defenders didn't play so well. The only bright spot on the guard line may be Kobe Bryant White, who came off the bench to score 23 points and shoot 5-of-8 from three-point range. It was his first game since Feb. 17 to score more than 20 points, compared to a total of seven in the previous two games.
In the first two months of the season, the Bulls' defensive efficiency can still rank in the top 10 in the league, and now it has slipped to 21st place in the league, above them are the Lakers, Magic, Spurs, Pelicans. The Bulls' poor defense allowed them to score 40 points by the Pelicans in the fourth quarter, while also giving a no-name player a career highlight, and that was this year's losing draft José Alvarado.
Alvarado scored 15 points, seven assists and three steals in the game, 13 of which were scored in the fourth quarter. None of the Bulls could stop him. In the final quarter, when the two teams were tied at 90, Alvarado scored eight points and delivered one steal and one assist. After that, Larry Nance Jr. contributed five points, and they teamed up to help the Pelicans hit a 13-2 mini-climax. Graham's over-the-top 3-pointer and Valanciunas' turning mid-range propelled the Pelicans home atmosphere to a climax, with 6:26 left before the end of the game and the score was already 107-92.
Nance said: "The momentum of the whole game was reversed by Alvarado's performance at that time. ”
The Georgia Tech (not the same school as Georgia Tech) lost the draft all the way to taunt the Bulls' defense. After hitting a goal in front of White, he spread his palms, and the expression on his face seemed to say: Your defense, this is it? No way. After Bulls center Nikola Vucevic won a basket above his head, he bent over and let out a low roar. When the stadium's big screen interacted with the fans to encourage them to show their best moves, Alvarado danced directly in front of the scorestand.
A 1.83-meter-83 loser pressed the fifth place in the East to the ground and rubbed it. Alvarado made a bold statement: "I'm not the tallest person on the field, but I want to make you look good every time." ”
After the victory over the Bulls, the Pelicans' record came to 31 wins and 42 losses, and the regular season record was equal to that of the Lakers, and due to the batting record, the Pelicans led 1-0, so the ranking surpassed the Lakers to rise to 9th in the West, and the Lakers dropped to 10th in the West. The Bulls are still in No. 5, but are just one win away from the No. 6 Cleveland Cavaliers. Both teams have recently lacked defensive mains, with the Bulls missing Lonzo Ball and the Cavaliers without Jarent Allen, and neither has been in good shape recently. After the Cavaliers lost 104-117 to the Raptors in the game on the 25th, both teams are now 41-32.
The Bulls should have fine-tuned early, rather than waiting until DeRozan was fatigued and injured before starting to figure out how to figure it out. This season, the 32-year-old DeRozan averaged 36 minutes per game, a new high in the past seven years, and averaged the first game in the team. With such high playing time, he has missed five games this season. If injuries are put aside for the time being, the Bulls now have to deal with a difficult road trip. In this five-game streak, the Bulls have lost to the Bucks and Pelicans, and will next challenge the Cavaliers, Knicks, and Wizards. The Cavaliers also want to avoid falling into the playoffs, so the March 27 Cavaliers' match against the Bulls is crucial for both teams.
For the Bulls, the lack of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs is almost inevitable. This is definitely a disadvantage for a team with a 16-21 record on the road. Fortunately, the Bulls have proven that they are a playoff team with both offense and defense when the lineup is healthy, with the strength to lead the East. If they can retain their current fifth-place position in the East, they can still make a difference in the playoffs.