Bulls should re-think last shot plan

NBA coaches make dozens of decisions during the course of a game, between play calls, substitutions, when to use timeouts, whether to stand up or sit down, etc.

The final moments of Friday's fourth quarter in the Bulls' overtime loss at Detroit was more of a no-decision.

Derrick Rose grabbed the rebound of Reggie Jackson's miss with 23 seconds left and tied the score. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg just let things go - no timeout, no special play. Rose never even gave up possession of the ball. He simply ran down the clock, then bricked a 20-foot jumper as time expired.

Now, the Bulls didn't play particularly well on Friday and an overtime road defeat against 3-0 Detroit is by no means a bad loss. But they had a chance to win, didn't convert and were outscored 15-11 in extra time.

So it's easy to second guess the decision to let Rose dribble the clock out and toss up a long, contested shot against a tough defender in Detroit's 6-5 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

"Derrick had been attacking and making plays in the fourth quarter and you trust him with the ball in his hands," Hoiberg told reporters after the game. "He's a guy that's made a lot of big shots over the course of his career. Unfortunately we didn't get a good one there at the end, but I liked flowing into it."

Hoiberg has a point. Rose scored 8 of the Bulls' last 9 points in the fourth quarter. And he hit a game-winning shot as recently as last May when he banked a 3-pointer at the buzzer against Cleveland in Game 3 of the second-round playoff series.

But it was clear-vision Rose who made that shot. He missed almost all of this year's training camp with a fractured left orbital bone and claims he's still experiencing double vision in his left eye. Until the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter, Rose was pretty bad against the Pistons. He went 4-for-13 from the field overall, finishing with 8 points, 6 assists and 5 turnovers.

"I was aiming at the wrong basket," Rose said after the game. "That was about it."

Hoiberg missed Saturday's practice to attend the funeral of Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders in Minneapolis. Assistant coach Jim Boylen met with reporters at the Advocate Center and reflected on the decision to leave the ball in Rose's hands.

"We felt like Derrick had a great fourth quarter, made some big plays for us," Boylen said. "We trust Derrick. He wanted to make a play. And he took a chance on making a play. We support him on it. It's a learning point for him and for us. We're not going to play backward. We're going to keep building on what we've done."

Was there a better choice to take the final shot? Based on everything that's happened over the past year or so, at least some of the late-game pressure should shift to Jimmy Butler. He hasn't had many chances, but did win a game early last season at Minnesota by drawing a foul against Andrew Wiggins with 0.2 seconds left and hitting both free throws.

Butler went 5-for-19 on Friday against Detroit, so he didn't have a great game, either. But at 6-8, he can shoot over the top of most defenders.

Maybe this would have been the ideal time to test Nikola Mirotic's skills as a clutch shooter. The 6-10 forward might legitimately be the Bulls' most dangerous scorer right now, averaging 19.7 points and shooting 51.4 percent from the field.

Better yet, the Bulls should have made something happen, using some combination of Rose, Butler and Mirotic to set a screens, get the defense moving and take advantage of the team's multiple offensive options.

Calling a timeout would have allowed the Bulls to get Doug McDermott on the floor for the final shot. Maybe he never touches the ball, but everyone knows his reputation, so a defender would surely hug McDermott like a cuddly stuffed animal, which might keep space clear for everyone else.

Back when Hoiberg played for the Bulls, coach Tim Floyd had a consistent plan in late-clock situations - clear out for Ron Mercer and let him take a jumper. It never worked. Not once.

Rose is several steps above Mercer when it comes to late-game options, but Hoiberg should be more creative next time.

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