Winning close games is a tall task for Bulls
With Thursday's loss to Utah, the Bulls dropped to 4-10 in games decided by 6 points or less.
Nearly halfway through the season, the Bulls have just one victory against an opponent with a winning record, and that happened when the Clippers were missing three-fifths of their regular lineup.
Veteran forward Thaddeus Young looked back on some of the close calls following Friday's practice at the Advocate Center.
"The Lakers game irks me. Thunder game irks me," Young said. "Those could be very very key and vital to what we're trying to do. Orlando game irks me. Those were games that were all winnable that we had a chance to really take a grasp and a hold on our fate and future going forward. We've just got to finish games. We've got to put our hard hat on each and every night and be ready."
Getting over that hump in the NBA is often more like climbing a mountain. Or in the Bulls' case, staring at a brick wall that might be impossible to traverse.
Young teams like the Bulls struggle in close games against established players. The solution is either get a superstar type of player to finish games or find a way to get some veterans on the floor. Those kinds of changes won't happen to the Bulls midseason.
Dallas guard Luka Doncic, who played professionally in Europe before joining the NBA, is one of the few examples of a young player who's been able to close games. The Bulls' closer is Zach LaVine, 24, who spent one disappointing year at UCLA, then was drafted by a bad Minnesota squad before being traded to the Bulls.
LaVine has made plays late in games to beat Charlotte, Washington and the depleted Clippers. Doing the same against an experienced team like Utah or Milwaukee or Saturday's opponent, Boston, is a different level of challenge.
"I told the team in September we're going to be in 20-25 one-possession games," coach Jim Boylen said. "I think we're - maybe not one possession games - but we've been in 24, I think, crunchtime games, 5 points with 5 minutes to go. That's what I thought we were going to be in.
"There's a positive to that, that we're competitive and our differential says that, and there's a tough point in that, that we've got to learn how to win more of those games."
Boylen put the Utah game on LaVine's shoulders. LaVine hit a 3-pointer to tie the score with 1:43 left, then missed a 3-pointer that could have put the Bulls ahead. On their last chance to tie, LaVine attacked the basket but was thwarted by Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
"I don't put it on all the final possessions," Boylen said. "There's times in the game, we're up 9, when we make mistakes or they make a run because of, we're stagnant (on offense), poor decisions."
Young was drafted by a relatively young Philadelphia squad in 2007, which then made the playoffs four times in the next five years. So he has experience playing for a developing team, but nothing quite like this. The Bulls have just two players in the rotation who have ever experienced the NBA playoffs, Young and Tomas Satoransky.
"I'd talk to them and just tell them that we're going to get over the hump," Young said. "Try to keep encouraging them each and every night. Then just getting them to understand it's hard to win.
"Then when you start winning, it just becomes contagious to everybody. We all feel like we're going to win every game. When you go into games like that with that type of confidence, that's the little things that kind of push you over the hump."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls
Bulls game day
Bulls vs. Boston Celtics, Saturday 7 p.m. at the United Center
TV: NBCSCH; Radio: 670-AM
Outlook: Celtics top scorer Kemba Walker missed Friday's home game against Atlanta with an illness, so his status is going to be questionable for this one. Otherwise, everything seems to be going well for Boston, which had won six of seven heading into Friday's action and was second in the East. ... Besides Walker (22.5 ppg), the Celtics' top scorers are PF Jayson Tatum at 21.3 points and SG Jaylen Brown with 20.6. SF Gordon Hayward (16.5 ppg) has missed half the season with injuries, but was healthy as of Friday. ... Last season, the Bulls suffered the worst loss in franchise history (133-77) at home against Boston on Dec. 8, but they also beat the Celtics 126-116 on Feb. 23.
Next: Dallas Mavericks on Monday at the American Airlines Center, 7:30 p.m.
- Mike McGraw