Lillard's 3 at buzzer hands Bulls a crushing loss
The Bulls had four days off to prepare for Saturday's game, and still ended up getting caught in maximum "Dame Time."
This one appeared to be securely in the win column when the Bulls took a 122-117 lead with 11.5 seconds left. But then Portland guard Damian Lillard hit a long 3, the Blazers tied up Zach LaVine, won the ensuing jump ball and Lillard buried another 3-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Bulls a crushing 123-122 defeat at the United Center.
Lauri Markkanen had a good contest on the final shot, jumping at Lillard with both arms in the air. The tie up was obviously a key play. LaVine caught the ball near the corner and expected a foul as he was double-teamed, but ended up in a jump ball against Gary Trent Jr. with 6.2 seconds on the clock.
"It was a quick whistle," LaVine said after the game. "There's a lot of things you can't control. But it happened. I didn't think it was a jump ball. I didn't think they had their hands on the ball. But it was called, so that's the way the game goes."
Bulls coach Billy Donovan talked through the possibility of using his final time out after Lillard's first 3-pointer, which was listed at 37 feet on the stat sheet.
"It was about as quick a jump ball as I've ever seen, and you can't challenge that," Donovan said. "I didn't think it was really a good call at that point in time. I get tie-ups, but they kind of just grabbed the ball and she called jump ball, (referee) Dannica (Mosher) did.
"I could have helped a little bit more, I think maybe possibly calling a timeout and advancing the ball. In those situations, I've learned that a lot of things can happen. I could call timeout and advance the ball, then not get it in and be a five-second count. We could turn it over. A lot of things could happen. For me, we got it into Zach, I felt good about it."
Of course, Donovan has seen this before. He was on the opposing bench for the most famous shot of Lillard's career, a long 3 at the buzzer that ended a playoff series against Oklahoma City in 2019.
"I really did not think we played very well," Donovan said. "I've got all the respect in the world for him as a player. It's way, way more about us. It's nothing to do with him. We put him in those situations. We get the ball inbounded, we make 2 free throws (the game is over)."
The Bulls, now with a three-game losing streak, had been leaning heavily on their veterans in recent games, but this was a good night for the young core. Markkanen helped celebrate his son's third birthday with a season-high 31 points. LaVine didn't take a shot in the first quarter, but finished with 26, while Coby White added 20. Thad Young had a nice stat line with 8 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Lillard scored 44 points and hit 8 of 17 shots from 3-point range.
"Obviously, he's one of the few guys in the league who can make that shot consistently," Markkanen said. "I thought I jumped before him and had both of my arms up, so obviously in that kind of situation, you start thinking about the small things you could have done better."
The Bulls have had some difficult losses this season, including on a late 3 by Golden State's Damion Lee and a late-game collapse at Oklahoma City.
"That's a tough loss, man. We've got to bounce back from that," Markkanen said. "We've got a great group of guys who stick together and fight for each other. That's what we've got to keep doing. Keep grinding, man, it's going to turn around."
LaVine and most of the Bulls walked quickly back to the locker room while the Blazers celebrated.
"You should be upset," LaVine said. "You've just got to rewire your brain to get ready for the next one. But yeah, it hurts being on the side of a loss like that where you think you have the game wrapped up and you fought back and did everything you could to put yourself in position to win.
"We know we played well. We made a lot of mistakes but we played well."
The Bulls (7-11) recorded probably their best win of the season at Portland on Jan. 5, coming back from a 20-point deficit. On Saturday, they trailed by as many as 19 points with nine minutes left in the third quarter before staging a comeback.
Markkanen hit a corner 3 to tie it, then put the Bulls in front with two minutes left on a cutting lay in off a pass from Young. LaVine drained a 3-pointer with 32.1 seconds left to put the Bulls up by 5, and White hit 2 free throws with 11.5 seconds remaining to make it 122-117.
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