WASHINGTON — That was an entitlement loss.
It’s inconceivable that a below-average team can strut into any NBA arena and feel like, “We got this one,” but the Bulls clearly were guilty of it Wednesday.
And coach Billy Donovan was pointing fingers after the horrid 125-107 loss to a 6-25 Wizards team, and he pointed the first finger at himself.
The Bulls did not practice in Washington on Tuesday, then Donovan decided to cancel the morning shootaround because of all the bumps and bruises. They still completed the normal walkthrough and film session at the hotel, but Donovan was doing a lot of second-guessing after the 15-19 Bulls’ latest embarrassment.
“We quite honestly had no right or didn’t even have the right to win in my opinion,” Donovan said. “In terms of a coaching perspective, from a playing perspective, we did not play to a level or to an identity that we’ve tried to do. That was the discouraging part because I felt like we weren’t making shots and then it bled into some other things.
“You always look at the day before, what you could do differently from a coaching perspective in terms of how you go through the day as far as the preparation, the readiness, the film.”
It was nice of Donovan to take the lead in the accountability department, but his players saw it a bit differently. Starting point guard Josh Giddey said it was on them, and it started with a poor mindset.
“We came in too cool, and it’s the NBA: Anybody can beat anyone,” Giddey said. “These guys haven’t had a lot of wins this year, and we probably came in with the wrong mindset that we could roll out of bed and walk away with a win doing what we want, but clearly that wasn’t the case.
“We can’t use [the time off] as an excuse. When the ball tips, you’ve got to be ready to play and we weren’t Wednesday.”
That was evident early. The Bulls definitely had a Hornets hangover going for most of the game.
If Donovan didn’t like the third quarter in Charlotte, which he was still pointing out before the Wizards game, he surely didn’t like any of the quarters in this game.
Losers of 23 of 26 games coming in, the Wizards didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to just lie down.
The Bulls shot poorly and were lazy defensively on rotations. They allowed the Wizards to score whenever they needed a big basket.
Even with all their inconsistency, the Bulls only were down 55-51 at the half. No biggie against a weak team? Well, until it was a biggie.
While the Bulls came out in the third quarter misfiring from long range (3-for-12 from three), the Wizards went 5-for-10 from three-point range and shot 15-for-27 from the field overall with 13 assists.
That’s why the fourth quarter felt almost academic; Washington outscored the Bulls 34-27 to complete the laugher.
The Bulls allowed 33 points off 20 turnovers, the Wizards had 36 assists and Donovan was left questioning his practice/shootaround schedules.
“When you’re playing against a team like Charlotte or playing against a team like Washington that doesn’t have a great record, I don’t think people understand that after a while, [they] get tired of it, and, at some point, you want to put your foot down and compete and play,” Donovan said.
Wednesday happened to be that night.