Bulls: Pre-Playoff Funk Official After Back-to-Back Losses
Playoff spot clinched but not much else is trending upward for Bulls
Nothing but bittersweet returns for the Chicago Bulls this week.
The sweet: they clinched their ticket to the postseason on Tuesday, ending what was a four-year absence. The bitter: Chicago Bulls now find themselves at an untimely 4-7 in their last 11 games after, over the past two days, clinching a perplexing season-series sweep to the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks then just coming out limp in another loss to the Boston Celtics.
They're simply struggled to string together conducive winning efforts on both sides of the floor to give themselves a chance in this one.
The Bucks game saw two lead changes and three ties, but both came in the first quarter as the Bucks would flex their championship pedigree en route to another division title.
The Bulls surrendered 30+ points in each of the final three stanzas, indicating a lack of connectivity they have on the defensive end, while also allowing 54 points in the paint led by Brook Lopez and his season-high 28 points (16 points in the paint) .
Chicago did see another double-digit scoring effort from Patrick Williams with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting (2-of-4 from deep) and 6 rebounds (including 4 offensive).
Splitting his now nine-games of ramping up into thirds, the last three games have seen Williams average an all-impressive 13.3 points per game with a 78.9/71.4/83.3 shooting slash, as well as 8 rebounds (including 2.3 offensive), and 1.3 blocks in 32.8 minutes per. P-Will is also 3-4 from the corners, 100% at the rim and 5-of-7 from the mid-range in that time. Yes, its a small sample size of games and volume of shots for him, but it's the appropriate level of assertiveness and shot selection for Williams in this role — he's meshing right in.
Williams has also, somehow, found a way to remain neutral in plus-minus last night, the only Bull able to do so who received relevant minutes.
Meanwhile, DeMar DeRozan shouldered the brut of the team’s scoring, with 40 points on 16-of-26 from the field. He certainly left it on the floor via his form of leadership.
Of surprise, after a stretch of somewhat underwhelming play independent of his shooting, Coby White (13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist) was able to be a factor off the bench here. The Bulls will be in great need of him being effective as a shooter and playmaker with Lonzo Ball out the remainder of the season as reported on Wednesday.
Nightly Notables: DeRozan now has five 40+ point outings on the season. In those games, he's averaging an all-impressive 65% from the field. The Bulls record in those is, however, is 2-3.
In the latter half of the home back-to-back, the Bulls saw some scrappy defensive efforts (even compiled solid returns off of stops with 18 points off turnovers) but struggled severely offensively.
The Celtics half court defense was swarming and suffocating, stacking stops in rapid succession, which was largely why they led from start to finish.
The Bulls did see efforts worth recognition from White, who compiled back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts off the bench, including two hits from deep.
Elsewhere, it was rather grim outside of Javonte Green.
As Stacey King coined, “there's five Javontes’s out there.” “Woo” went 4/6 from the field with six rebounds, two steals and six blocks on Wednesday.
Green’s impact transcended the mere counting of stats however, as his point of attack and ball denial defense was a springboard of sorts for multiple stretches of the game, he did an excellent job blowing up dribble handoffs, disrupting sets (specifically as the Celtics tried to involve Tatum and Brown), and even in his ball denial when away from the main action.
Green is rough, rugged, and physical, with all of the tangibles needed to, for stretches at a time, give a lot of what has made Alex Caruso an All-NBA defender, he will be a key cog defending the guards or wings other teams include in their primary actions on the playoffs stage.
Up Next: The Bulls cap off their home schedule with a final bout against the exuberant bunch that is the Charlotte Hornets, led by LaMelo Ball. They've struggled of late defensively, so this should be a “get right” game for Chicago as a collective on the offensive end.
As it stands, they're presently 6th in the East at 45-34, now a game and a half behind the Toronto Raptors.