With national spotlight turned up, Bulls wilt against Mavs
This was coach Billy Donovan’s concern the last 48 hours leading into the game against the Mavericks.
National TV interviews for guard Josh Giddey after he hit the halfcourt shot heard ’round Chicago, and the Bulls gaining relevance on a much bigger stage.
It was too much, too soon, Donovan thought. Hiding in the weeds was just fine with him.
“I get concerned about that a little bit, quite honestly,” Donovan said of the focus on his team since the drama of the victory over the Lakers on Thursday. “I do think that when you’re a team over the course of the season, which has been all year long really, on the outside looking in at a playoff seed, being in the top six, then going through what we did at the trade deadline, there hasn’t been a lot of attention. The attention has been on a lot of other teams.
“Because it was the Lakers and LeBron James’ status in the game, what he’s done throughout his career, the trade with [Luka]Doncic coming in, there’s a huge following with them. So when a game happens against a team like that with those two players, certainly there’s going to be a lot more focus on that game. For our guys emotionally, we’ve got to be able to come back 48 hours later and play again.”
They played, just not well.
Thanks to two free throws by Klay Thompson with 6.1 seconds left, the Mavs outlasted the Bulls 120-119 on Saturday.
“Got to be able to handle the emotion, which is a part of the growth we have to make as a team because if at some point you do want to get to the playoffs, sometimes those playoff games can be really emotional from one game to the next, and you’ve got to be able to flush those games and be able to refocus and raise your energy level, not have it zapped,” Donovan said. “It’s about how you come back off of it.”
Despite looking a step slow, the Bulls (33-41) had the victory within reach.
After Spencer Dinwiddie missed a finger roll badly with 10.1 seconds left, the Bulls had a chance to muster up some heroics down by three out of the timeout. Dallas, however, chose to foul Nikola Vucevic and put him at the line rather than let the Bulls tie the game from long range. Vucevic missed the first free throw and made the second.
That left Donovan with no choice but to foul Thompson, who made both. So Vucevic’s three with 0.2 seconds left was for naught.
“I felt like we were all a step behind for some reason,” rookie Matas Buzelis said. “We battled back, of course. We always do that. But if we start well and execute in the beginning, I don’t think anybody can beat us.”
The Bulls actually had a solid first quarter, outscoring the Mavs 34-30 to take the early lead. Turnovers, however, were an issue throughout, with Dallas (37-38) scoring 27 points off 19 turnovers.
So even a game-high 28 points from Buzelis and Coby White and Vucevic each chipping in 25 weren’t enough on a night in which the Mavs picked key moments to go right at Giddey and test his improved defense.
Giddey failed that test with Donovan pulling him off the floor late when the team needed stops.
“I didn’t think we kind of had it; the pop wasn’t there,” Donovan said. “It was just a game that was a struggle for us.”