Coach Billy Donovan rattled off statistics by heart, and he expressed disdain for all of them.
“You’re talking about giving up 76 free throws in two games, 32 of them were shooting fouls, 54 offensive rebounds, 34 turnovers,” he said. “Just not a recipe that’s sustainable.”
And Donovan wasn’t going to sweep it under the rug. The performances in Portland — a victory — and against the Heat on Friday at the United Center were unacceptable for Donovan.
So the Bulls’ 121-120 victory Saturday against the Wizards must’ve been the course correction, right? It was a win, it was a start, but it still left Donovan knowing there was a lot of work to be done, and that begins and ends in the physicality department.
“To me a lot of the stuff is the physicality part,” Donovan said. “We are really going to find out the guys that can do that. It’s the inability to contain the basketball. There’s got to be a lot more resistance, honestly. There have been moments we’ve been OK at it, but certainly now with the condensed schedule, there’s been slippage.
“Teams are getting up more shots than us, so we’re just giving them more bites at the apple. It’s not about missing or making shots; it’s about the competitiveness of it and the physicality when shots go up or guys are driving. Those are the things we’re going to have to lean into and get better at as a group.”
They did that in the fourth quarter against Washington (1-15), but it’s the Wizards. It shouldn’t have come down to flipping a switch in the fourth after trailing by 16 in the first half.
Regardless, the Bulls (9-7) were holding on to the lead in the final seconds.
Two free throws by Tre Jones with 34 seconds left put the Bulls up by one. After a miss by Kyshawn George, a missed three-pointer by Coby White gave the Wizards hope with six seconds left. But these are the Wizards, so, of course, the Bulls were able to blitz George on the inbound and force him into a turnover.
Donovan could at least rest easy with a few aspects: The Bulls got to the free-throw line more than Washington and won the battle of the offensive rebounds and turnovers.
But there were still too many moments where the physicality was optional rather than a requirement.
“That’s the consistency part that we’ve got to fight for,” Donovan said. “It’s not like I’ve not seen us do it. We’re going to have to do it on a more regular, more consistent basis. Portland did it, as far as downhill and playing through us. Miami did it. There’s times you can’t bring help. There’s no help to bring. Take pride in individually guarding. We’ve been kind of up and down. We’ve been good in some games, but not good enough.”
Veteran big man Nikola Vucevic pulled no punches and called his team’s performance “soft.”
“Just didn’t play up to NBA standards,” Vucevic said of the first half against the Wizards. “You give up 41 points in the first quarter, 70 in the half, it’s just not good enough. It needed to be addressed. We talk about it, but I don’t think we really understand that it’s not sustainable to play this way.’’
Vucevic had a team-high 28 points, and Josh Giddey had his fourth triple-double.