The Chicago Bulls squandered a chance to take some breathing space in the play-in standings, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers 109-97 at the United Center on Saturday night.
Barring a complete upset in the Eastern Conference, the 76ers and Bulls are set to finish the season vying for the final spot in the play-in tournament. A win on Saturday could give the Bulls a three-game lead over the 76ers for 10th place in the conference – the final spot.
But even with the clear advantage, the Bulls (19-27) couldn’t make it happen. The 76ers (17-27) had a rough start and lost players as the game went on. Joel Embiid sat out with a left knee injury and Paul George missed the entire second half with a hand injury. It didn’t matter to Tyrese Maxey, who led the 76ers with 31 points as the Bulls’ offense faltered.
The Bulls have carved out an interesting situation: high enough in the East standings to retain a play-in spot, but low enough in the overall standings to hold on to their top-10 protected draft pick. Due to the strength of the Western Conference, they don’t really need to miss the play-in tournament to hold on to that pick – but after eight losses in 10 games, the Bulls may be on their way to the bottom anyway.
Zach LaVine scored 25 points and Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulls, who fell to a worrying 8-16 at home despite going 11-11 this season.
Here are four other findings related to the loss.
1. Bulls left exposed due to lack of control.
It’s not hard to identify the biggest weakness for the Bulls this season: turning the ball over.
The Bulls committed 19 turnovers on Saturday, including 10 in the fourth quarter as the offense completely fell apart. As a result, they scored only 14 points in the quarter. Turnovers came from every angle – dribbling off his feet, chucking out of bounds, hanging onto the ball until the shot clock expired and a particularly terrible carry by Zach LaVine, who lazily dropped the ball while attempting to navigate a screen. Trapped against the chest. fourth quarter.
The errors worsened another low-volume 3-point shooting night for the Bulls, making only 37 attempts (making 12). Coach Billy Donovan said that one of the officials came up to him midway through the first half and jokingly asked: “I thought you wanted them to shoot it, right?”
Donovan said he responded: “Yeah, would you like to tell them that?”
While the Bulls are averaging the second-most 3-point attempts in the league, that number has dropped significantly over the last 10 games – from 42.7 to 38.4.
2. Another no-show from Patrick Williams.
Williams’ frustrations are increasing with each game in his fifth season with the Bulls. The wing failed to make an impact on both ends of the court Saturday, committing more turnovers (2) than made baskets as he shot 1-for-9 (11.1%) from the field.
Even when he got his head down to get to the rim, the wing was always trying to pass first. This trait led to three assists, but did not improve the volume or accuracy of his shots at the rim. And while Williams has historically been one of the most efficient 3-point shooters on the Bulls, his accuracy from behind the arc has suffered this season. He went 0-for-4 to continue shooting under 35% from deep since returning from injury in early December.
And even though he maintains his position in the starting lineup, it’s clear that confidence is waning in close game situations. Williams was replaced by Ayo Dosunmu in the closing rotation, a frequent move for Donovan in recent games.
Following the loss, Wing defended himself amid another stop-and-start season, which he described as a “growth” opportunity.
“I got the game,” Williams said. “Whenever I’ve been through something and I’ve recovered from it, I’ve always learned a lot, become a better player, a better person on the other end of it. This is no different. You grow from what you go through.”
3. Matas Bouzelis’ minutes limited again.
It is difficult for a newbie to crack the second half rotation. This trend continued on Saturday, when Bouzelis played less than three minutes in the second half (and only 12:07 minutes overall). Before the game, Donovan defended his position, saying that Bouzelis was still not ready for full playing time: “Right now, he’s not equipped to handle 30 minutes.”
Donovan highlighted how opposing teams often target Bouzelis on defense, a strategy recently used by the Golden State Warriors, who kept Andrew Wiggins from relentlessly attacking the rookie in their first rotation loss in Thursday’s loss. Was encouraged to do. Although Bouzelis is eager to learn from those moments, Donovan questioned the effectiveness of leaving a novice to the game to suffer through learning experiences.
“I think sometimes what happens is you teach a player how to make an impact in a loss by just giving him a few minutes without any responsibility,” Donovan said. “He needs to become and we want him to become a winning player.”
Still, Bouzelis managed to show some flashes in his limited playing time against the 76ers, finishing with six points and three rebounds.
4. Jalen Smith warming up.
Center Jalen Smith provided a rare source of offense off the bench, missing all three of his 3-point attempts in the first half. It was a welcome change for Smith, who had taken 4 for 21 in the previous seven matches.
After shooting a career-high 42.4% from behind the arc with the Indiana Pacers last season, Smith has struggled to find his shot in Chicago, where he averages 32.8% shooting from deep. This is a departure from the rest of the Bulls roster, which ranks ninth in the league in accuracy (37.1%) while taking the second-most 3-point attempts in the league (42.8).