Bulls start fast, but get buried by Sacramento's strong second half
The significant question Monday at the United Center was how would the Bulls respond to their adventurous three-day weekend?
To recap, the Bulls delivered their best win of the season on Friday, suffered the worst loss in franchise history on Saturday, then held team meetings Sunday after some players objected to holding a practice.
The jury is still out on the state of the Bulls question. They played well in the first half against Sacramento at the United Center. But an 11-point halftime lead evaporated quickly as the Kings dominated second half and won going away 108-89. The Bulls are now 1-3 since Jim Boylen took over for Fred Hoiberg.
"We wanted to make a statement after the big loss," said Zach LaVine, who led the Bulls with 19 points. "But stick together. We made some improvements, but we've got to get better."
The Bulls set a season-high for turnovers, coughing it up 27 times. Early in the game, it was mostly careless passes. In the second half, they resorted to the old habit of guys trying to do too much once the opponents made a run.
Kris Dunn finished with 9 points and 6 assists in 20 minutes. Bobby Portis had 9 points and 8 rebounds in 19 minutes. Both players returned from roughly seven weeks off with knee sprains.
"We've got a lot to clean up and a lot to get organized," Boylen said. "We're having trouble sustaining the style we want to play for 48 minutes."
There were plenty of smaller questions along the way, like what the heck actually happened on Sunday?
The players obviously decided ahead of time to request a players-only meeting on Sunday. Reports had the players discussing the situation in a group text, with some players suggesting a boycott of practice.
Robin Lopez spoke to reporters at Monday's shootaround and confirmed that he preferred the scenario where everyone showed up at the Advocate Center and approached Boylen about the concerns.
"I think everything made us closer," LaVine said after the game. "I think that ordeal was good for the team. Everybody spoke the truth about everything. There isn't any more mixed feelings. I think everything was on the table. Being straight up with people is always a good thing. I think sometimes people are afraid of the truth and I think we handled that."
After shootaround, Boylen got a little passionate while objecting to a reporter saying the players pushed back against Sunday's practice plan.
"That is not true. I don't like that narrative. I don't want that out there. That's not true," Boylen said. "That is not true that they didn't want to have practice. 'They' means everybody. That is not true.
"The truth is we had a couple guys who thought a Sunday practice was excessive after the week we had. And they have to trust me if I bring them in here to practice, I'm going to manage their legs and manage what we're going to do. They didn't understand that. So I explained to them you have to trust that I'm going to do what's best for this team.
"What was best for this team was coming in, being together and growing. Some guys felt that was excessive. We cleared that up, and we're moving on. Please don't say 'they.' Because that's not how is was, OK?"
Boylen had another interesting take when he spoke to reporters before the game. He suggested Sunday's issues were the sort of adversity winning teams endure.
"I think we're right where we're supposed to be," Boylen said. "I expected something like (Sunday) to happen. I've been waiting on it. I've been prepared for it, I took it head on. Change is difficult. It's raw, it's tough.
"I expected all of this and it's all good. Because that's what has to happen to get to the next level. We have to go through some tough moments, some adversity."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls