LaVine takes blame for Bulls' slow start in Sacramento
The Bulls had a chance to win their third straight game, get the West Coast trip off to a good start and make a move for the No. 2 seed in the East on Monday.
Instead, they fell behind by 20 points at halftime and lost to Sacramento, a team that dropped nine of its previous 11 games. The next two stops will be tougher, with Utah coming up Wednesday and Phoenix on Friday.
After the loss, Zach LaVine talked about doing his part. Coming back from a game off to rest his sore left knee, LaVine scored 5 points in the first half, then came back with 22 in the second.
"I've got to do a better job with just my mentality." he said. "I'm going out there, I'm playing through some pain in my knee injury, but I've got to have the right mindset. I can't tiptoe into the game.
"It's my first game back I can put excuses out there, but I put that on myself where I made a mental decision in the second half to go out there and play like me. I've got to start off that way."
One stat that stood out was LaVine going 9-for-9 at the foul line in the second half. It was a reflection on how aggressive he was attacking the basket. The Bulls scored 43 in the first half and 60 in the second.
"We didn't start off the right way," LaVine said. "We got punched in the mouth. We've got to start punching these teams in the mouth. It can't take being down by 20 for us to play like we're supposed to."
Since landing wrong on his knee against Golden State on Jan. 14, LaVine has played in 17 games and missed 11. As mentioned here before, that's created some chemistry issues for the Bulls.
Let's face it, the dynamic doesn't change much if Tristan Thompson is the backup center instead of Tony Bradley, or if Derrick Jones Jr. fills in for Javonte Green at power forward.
But when LaVine is out, Nikola Vucevic gets more touches, DeMar DeRozan becomes the clear-cut No. 1 scoring option, Coby White moves into the starting lineup and gets a chance to get going early. Ayo Dosunmu typically takes more shots.
The Bulls are obviously a better team with LaVine on the floor, but having him move in and out of the lineup during the past two months has been a challenge. When they won nine in a row around the New Year, the Big Three seemed to have figured out how to function together.
Strength of competition has had plenty to do with the Bulls' success this season, but they did seem to lose some cohesion with the frequent lineup changes. The Kings were intent on getting the ball out of DeRozan's hands Monday, which put even more stress on the situation, while Alex Caruso played his second game after missing 22 with a broken wrist.
"It's not going to get easier," LaVine said. "We don't know who's going to be there, who's going to be injured or in and out of the lineup. We've got to play the right way and have a certain identity and obviously we didn't do that (against the Kings). We have to learn from this. If not, that's on us."
Coach Billy Donovan said he felt the Bulls got good looks early in the game. They hit just 6 of 24 shots in the first quarter, though.
"We understood how bad we looked in the first half," LaVine said. "Each one of us individually and collectively wanted to go out there and spark something. Passing, scoring, getting to the foul line, obviously, it will get everybody going. We need to start that earlier."
On Tuesday morning, the Bulls were 1 ½ games out of the No. 2 seed in the East, and also 3 games out of seventh place and spot in the play-in tournament. There are 14 games left in the regular season, but the Bulls need to be careful about keeping their stars fresh. Against Sacramento, DeRozan played all but two minutes in the second half, while LaVine, sore knee and all, stayed on the floor for the entire third quarter.
"I didn't think about it," LaVine said. "I think that's the best thing about it, I feel good right now. Obviously I'm going to do everything I can to play these games and be careful and understand the long haul. I just didn't think about it and just wanted to help us win."
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