Fast-paced strategy has backfired on Bulls

The Bulls looked good playing their fast-paced style for about two weeks.

Now it's worth asking if this entire formula is misguided. Sure, they can play fast. But for how long?

The majority of the Bulls' roster has been attached to the injury report the past two weeks. The few that stayed healthy, like Josh Giddey and Nikola Vucevic, seem worn down.

Golden State was also short-handed Sunday at the United Center, missing Steph Curry and Draymond Green, and were playing the second leg of back-to-back games, while the Bulls had a day to rest.

Former Bulls star Jimmy Butler did suit up, and scored 19 points as the Warriors rolled 123-91, handing the Bulls their seventh straight loss.

The Warriors (13-12) set the tone right away by hitting 3-point shots on their first three possessions, and quickly built a 23-10 lead. The Bulls (9-14) made a couple attempted comebacks, but fans at the UC, who probably bought tickets hoping to see Curry, didn't have much to cheer about. The Bulls got within 8 early in the fourth quarter, but Golden State had the lead back over 20 a little more than three minutes later.

Coach Billy Donovan suggested all the Bulls need is love, but the reality of this roster is more complicated.

“I think the group gets along very well, they all like each other,” Donovan said. “But until they start to love each other enough to block out and to dive on the floor — not for themselves, but for the guy next to them. We have to do it together.

“When you do those things, what you're basically showing to me is an enormous amount of respect for the man sitting next to you.”

Before the game, Golden State coach Steve Kerr reflected on the early days of the “Splash Brothers” era, when the Warriors could outrun every team in the league, and stayed relatively healthy in the process. It was ground-breaking, but Kerr admitted being inspired by Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix teams in the 00s.

“Your efficiency, your points per possession — it's all higher earlier in the clock,” Kerr said. “When I played growing up, every coach I ever had said, 'Well, you don't need to take that one early, you can always get that one late.' It turned out, they were all misinformed.'”

Following the example set by the championship Warriors feels similar to the “Tush Push” of the Philadelphia Eagles — often copied, but few teams can actually pull it off.

The Pacers got to the Finals playing a fast pace last season. But now star Tyrese Haliburton is recovering from a torn Achilles, while center Myles Turner bolted for slower speeds in Milwaukee.

When Donovan talked about the Bulls playing to their identity before the game, he focused more on shot profile. The Bulls rank third in the NBA in percentage of shots taken within 5 feet of the basket. But their field-goal percentage on those close shots is 59.1%, which ranks 29th in the league — ahead of only New Orleans.

Sunday's game was more of the same, plenty of point-blank misses and not enough 3-point makes. Donovan talked about the players needing to take the extra dribble (to get closer to the rim) or throw the extra pass (because they'd be better off finding a more open teammate.)

“Believe it or not, we shoot a better effective field-goal percentage from corner 3s than we do at the rim,” Donovan said. “So to me, it's all about shot generation and shot creation.”

The Bulls were pretty good when they were relatively whole, because they were able to play a style that worked. But when Coby White returned from a calf injury, Isaac Okoro, Jalen Smith, Tre Jones and others started missing time with injuries. Jones has been a helpful player, but has been available for 35 of 55 games since arriving in a trade last February.

The Bulls aren't built to win rebounding battles or smother teams defensively. So once the fast-paced plan fizzled, the team fell apart. At least they have four days off now to try to figure things out.

“The memo on us is out,” Giddey said after the game. “Crash the boards, get back in transition — that's how you stop the Bulls. We've got to figure out ways to be effective.”