I hate that I have to write words after that. I hate it so much.
The Chicago Bulls played easily their best game of this short-season on Wednesday night, but it still wasn’t enough to beat a struggling Golden State Warriors team. Instead, Damion Lee stomped the Bulls young core into the ground on a deep 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left in the game (which gave the Warriors their first win of the season). To add to the sting, Zach LaVine converted a clutch go-ahead bucket just five seconds to go in the contest.
All things considered, it’s hard to focus on the positives tonight – of which there were actually many. I rather find myself harping on Donovan’s decision to waste his final timeout on a challenge that ultimately failed with 46.0 seconds to go. Not to mention, the sting of the Bulls season-high 24 turnovers. However, I should try my best to be better than the Bulls young players, who have a tendency to linger a bit too long on the negatives. In fact, that’s actually my biggest concern about this heartbreaking, last-second loss – the Bulls will let it sit in the back of their head for far too long.
Chicago needed this win to give their guys a much-needed confidence boosts. To show them that the new system they’re putting together is finally starting to click. Perhaps that still happens, and head coach Billy Donovan gets them to see all the steps they took forward tonight. I sure hope that’s the case, but I’ll simply have to believe it when I see it.
For the sake of my sanity, though, I’m going to share some positives. While I know it was against a very poor Golden State defense, there were still several decent takeaways from tonight’s games, the best of which was that four of the Bulls starters finished with 20 or more points.
Take a look:
https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1343404609101045761?s=20
The team also shot over 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from downtown, as well as out-rebounded the Warriors by 17. Those two things not only demonstrate that the Bulls played in their new offensive system with more comfort, but that they also did so with aggression and confidence.
The Bulls shot over 50% and outrebounded their opponent by 17 or more for the 83rd time in franchise history. They're now 82-1 in those games.
— Jeff Mangurten (@JeffGurt) December 28, 2020
Anyway, we’ll talk more about all of this tomorrow. I have to gather my thoughts and give this one some time to wear off.
Man, I really wanted a win.