Bulls struggle with slow starts; hope LaVine will return soon
Not even Thanksgiving yet and the Bulls' season has come to this - asking what hurts more: blowout losses or narrow losses?
The Bulls are loading up on the blowout variety. They'll carry a five-game losing streak into Friday's home date against Charlotte, with the last three defeats coming by at least 13 points.
"They all hurt," guard Justin Holiday said. "Close ones hurt. They hurt in their own way a lot. But the ones where you get killed hurt bad, too. Nobody wants to go get killed or lose."
Wednesday's 92-79 loss in Oklahoma City definitely counts as a blowout, despite the Bulls' garbage-time comeback. They trailed by as many as 27 points.
There is some positive news, though, as rebuilding centerpiece Zach LaVine moves closer to returning from a torn ACL in his left knee.
"He's coming out on the West Coast trip with us," coach Fred Hoiberg said Thursday at the Advocate Center. "He'll be evaluated by his doctor in L.A. and hopefully cleared for contact shortly thereafter."
LaVine is a two-time slam dunk contest champion and the Bulls could certainly use a jump start early in games. They've been absolutely awful in first quarters lately. They trailed the Thunder 27-7 after 12 minutes and fell behind in San Antonio 37-15 last Saturday.
Including last Friday's home loss to Indiana, the Bulls have shot a collective 25.9 percent from the field in their last three first quarters.
"Instead of finding a way to fight through it we're shutting down a little bit," Hoiberg said. "That's got to change. We're evaluating everything, had a very long meeting this morning, watched a lot of film."
One positive is the Bulls will have Holiday back Friday. He missed the game in Oklahoma City after his wife gave birth to the couple's first daughter.
Holiday's absence provided a chance for the Bulls to experiment with a different starting lineup. They went with a two-point guard backcourt featuring Kris Dunn and Jerian Grant, along with veteran Quincy Pondexter at small forward. The results were poor, obviously, as the Bulls shot 2-for-16 from the field with 8 turnovers in the first quarter at OKC.
For the Charlotte game, Hoiberg named Holiday the starter and said the other spots will be determined in Thursday's practice. When asked about the possibility of starting Bobby Portis, Hoiberg suggested a likelihood of sticking with Lauri Markkanen and Robin Lopez inside.
"The way Lauri's playing, he's one guy that's making shots for us, especially in that first quarter," Hoiberg said. "Robin has been pretty constant for us all season long. With Robin in the lineup our five-man units are much better, much more effective, so we'll keep Bobby in the same role for now."
As Holiday prepares to play his first NBA game as a father, he doesn't bekueve the Bulls are losing enthusiasm in this rebuilding season. He even managed to put an optimistic spin on the team's 2-10 start.
"I don't think it's difficult to get up for a game," Holiday said. "You lose all the time, you're a competitor and want to win. These guys want to win.
"I do think that losing all these games will help us as a team later in growing and eventually finding a way to win. … The Warriors had a time where they didn't win much of anything."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls
Sorry starts
The Chicago Bulls have been terrible in the first quarter of their last three games:
Opp. Score FGs Turnovers
at OKC 7-27 2-16 8 Leading scorer: Markkanen 3
Opp. Score FGs Turnovers
at SA 15-37 7-20 4 Leading scorer: Portis 3
Opp. Score FGs Turnovers
vs. Ind 16-27 6-22 3 Leading scorer: Holiday 8