CLEVELAND — One glance around the Eastern Conference these days, and there’s not a whole lot that has the Bulls flinching.
And there shouldn’t be.
All the hype coming into the season was that with long-term injuries to Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum, the Pacers and Celtics, respectively, could struggle, leaving the wide-open conference there for the taking.
As the Bulls are finding out the last two nights, that’s easier said than done.
After watching perennial MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo burn them late in the game in Milwaukee on Friday, another star player flexed his muscles. Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell scored 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter Saturday, helping Cleveland pull away 128-122.
It’s still a star-power league, and the Bulls are finding that out.
“Nope, spot-on,” guard Josh Giddey said. “When teams have No. 1 guys — Giannis [on Friday] night and Mitchell [on Saturday] —they’re the guys you want to get the ball out of their hands and not let them beat you. It happened both nights, and offensively we didn’t execute at all [in the fourth quarter]. I put that on myself as the point guard. I’ve got to get us organized and figure out what we’re going to run down the stretch.”
The loss dropped the Bulls to 6-3, but the key for now, coach Billy Donovan said, is to keep it all in perspective. As impressive as the climb has been — really starting late last season for this group — an 82-game season is full of obstacles. The Bulls have hit a few lately.
“I’m always a little bit reluctant in talking that way from the standpoint of we have to go out there and play games, and we have to earn that right,” Donovan said when asked about the conference being vulnerable this season.
“So where we finished last year, with [Myles] Turner going to Milwaukee and Haliburton being out, Tatum being out and some of the things that have gone on, you could look at some of those teams as losing key players, and they have. But I think if you look at the East the way it is, I think on any given night, anybody can beat anybody, quite honestly. I think we have to prove it, quite honestly.”
They’ve done their share of that, beating projected playoff teams such as Detroit, Orlando, Atlanta and Philadelphia and splitting with the Knicks.
The road games against Milwaukee and Cleveland, however, looked to be measuring sticks, and the Bulls came up short. The Cavs went on a 12-0 run to close this one out.
“They can put the ball in Mitchell’s hands, and we’ve got to run around and try and stop him,” Donovan said. “He’s creating closeouts, and the floor opens up for other guys to make plays. We’ve got to find a way, collectively, to create space. It’s just the way we’re built. We’ve got to do it collectively as a group.”
They sure did that in the second quarter. Donovan watched his team put together a season-high 43-point quarter, shooting 12-for-22 from the field, including 6-for-8 (75%) from three-point range, to put the Cavs in a hole they would spend the entire second half trying to dig out of.
Credit to Cleveland for doing it. Then again, the Cavs were the No. 1 seed in the East last season, so they aren’t short on star power.
Donovan wants to see his team continue to focus on the here and now.
“We have an opportunity, like every team does, but we’re going to have to be able to prove it,” Donovan said. “It’s going to come down to how well we can take advantage of the opportunities in front of us. At this point, it’s how we can keep finding a way to try and play a little bit more consistently night in and night out. And I do think we’re no different from any other team, fighting for that consistency.”