Billy Donovan rattled off the statistics by heart, and he had disdain for each one of them.
“You’re talking about giving up 76 free throws (allowed) in two games, 32 of them were shooting fouls, 54 offensive rebounds, 34 turnovers,” the Bulls coach said. “Just not a recipe that’s sustainable.”
Or welcomed by Donovan.
And he wasn’t going to just sweep it under the rug. The performances in Portland – which was a win – and then against Miami Friday at the United Center, were unacceptable for the coach. Not what he’s asked of his players and not what he’s coached.
So Saturday’s 121-120 win over Washington must have been the course correction, right? It was a victory, it was a start, but 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 as a group collectively.”
They did that in the fourth quarter against the Wizards (1-15), but it’s the Wizards. It shouldn’t have come to flipping a switch in the final stanza after trailing by as much as 16 in the first half.
Regardless, there the Bulls (9-7) were in the final seconds, gripping to a lead.
Two Tre Jones free throws with 34 seconds left put the Bulls up one, and after a Kyshawn George miss, a Coby White missed three gave the visiting team 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.
What Donovan could at least rest easy for one night on was the fact that the Bulls did get to the free throw line more than Washington, and did win the battle of the offensive rebounds and turnovers.
What wasn’t solved? 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 (Friday). 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.”
That’s why after the latest win, veteran 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 finished with a team-high 28, while Josh Giddey had his fourth triple-double.