ORLANDO, Fla. – The lead was up to 15 and the Magic were on the ropes.
Finally, some resistance, some urgency from the Bulls for the first time in weeks.
Thanks to a Matas Buzelis steal and a Nikola Vucevic floater with six minutes left in the third quarter, the visiting team jumped up 74-59 and once again resembled the surprise team that sprinted out to a 5-0 record to start the regular season.
Then came the counterpunch.
And another, and another, and another …
By the time the horn sounded to end the third-quarter bludgeoning, the Magic’s 26-11 run was over, the game was tied, and those good feelings coming from the Bulls bench were fleeting.
Surely the Bulls would bow up and put the same old storyline to a halt in the fourth?
And therein lies the ongoing issue with this roster, especially late in games. Not enough key stops, not enough winning moments.
This time it was Orlando’s Desmond Bane that would sink the Bulls (9-11), scoring 18 of his game-high 37 points in the final stanza, helping hand Billy Donovan’s crew their fourth straight loss, 125-120.
Again, there was no one to blame but themselves.
“You just got to stay together when those runs come,” Buzelis said afterward. “You gotta get a kill. Three stops in a row will kill the momentum of the team, and we’ve got to be better at that.”
There were some boxes to check, specifically the physicality one. The Bulls even had more offensive rebounds than Orlando in the fourth, but it was two the Magic had late that were back-breakers, including one that led to a Bane three with 3:23 left that put his team on top by one.
Tough lessons still being handed out over a tough last few weeks, and a reminder that this team isn’t really sneaking up on anyone at this point.
“I think last year we were one of the faster teams – us and Indiana – and our pace last year is probably sitting in the middle of the pack now,” guard Josh Giddey said. “Obviously, teams adjusted and they’re not surprised with how we play anymore. We can’t just beat teams based on getting up and down the floor. Other teams are doing it. When a team approaches you like that then it comes down to the halfcourt game and who is more physical, who defends better?”
An accurate assessment by Giddey. While the Bulls were second in pace last year at 103.61 (the number of possessions a team averages per a 48-minute game), they are up to 104.4 this season. The problem is a team like Orlando, who was dead last in pace last year (96.51) is sitting at 101.02 (13th) this season and climbing.
Factor in that the Magic are way more physical than the Bulls, and it makes the margin of error for Donovan’s team even smaller.
“We talked about it at the end of last year, was because of the pace we were playing at, we always had this advantage,” Donovan said. “Now we do have positive numbers in transition, but it’s certainly not what it was last year. We scored more transition points than any other team in the last 10 years of the NBA. You see trends, right, and now more teams are playing that way.
“That’s what I talked about on media day was, ‘OK, everybody is playing fast now.’ Now it comes down to physicality, holding your ground, body in play, screening, loose balls, how well can you convert from offense to defense, defense to offense. To me all the controllable things have been magnified even more. That’s where our growth is, where can we be better defensively in the halfcourt and can we be better offensively in the halfcourt?”
Strides taken on Monday, but clearly not enough.