Bulls fall one short in battle of clutch shots vs. Pacers
The Bulls ended Friday's shootaround with an old-fashioned shooting contest.
It would have been an appropriate drill for a junior high team. Two groups of players took turns shooting at either end of the Advocate Center, counting out their makes.
At the very end, there must have been a tie, because Zach LaVine and Ryan Arcidiacono finished things with a 3-point shootout from the top of the key.
LaVine lost that match, but was ready by game time. LaVine hit his first 5 shots of the game against the Pacers and later knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the final 17 seconds of regulation to tie the score. But his last-ditch 3-pointer that could have tied it in overtime left his hand just after the buzzer and the Bulls lost to Indiana 119-116 at the United Center.
This was the sort of performance the Bulls had in mind on the night they traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota for LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen. It took 18 months, but those three were finally great on the same night.
LaVine finished with 31 points, Markkanen scored 27 and Dunn produced 16 points and a career-high 17 assists. The Pacers (26-12) have been the league's hottest team, winning 13 of 15 games.
"We're dangerous because we've got so many different weapons out there," LaVine said. "I think we've got to learn how to put it together. It's tough too, because chemistry don't come in a day. Learning how to win don't come right away. There's going to be ups and downs. We're trying to speed that process up because we know how good we can be. We've just got to put it all together."
After scoring 17 points in the first quarter, LaVine played just one minute in the second before picking up his third foul and taking a seat. He didn't score in the third quarter either, then finally got loose for a drive and dunk to put Bulls up 86-81 with 7:44 remaining.
The Pacers started clicking, though, and led 102-96 with 32.5 seconds left. That's when Dunn began the campaign of clutch by hitting a 3-pointer with 26.8 seconds left. LaVine added two more, including the tying 3 with 3.9 seconds on the clock.
In overtime, the teams traded big 3-pointers. Myles Turner hit one to put Indiana up with 29.6 seconds left. Markkanen tied it with 9.3 seconds remaining, but Victor Oladipo (36 points) banked in the game-winner from 28 feet with 0.3 seconds on the clock.
This offensive display was quite a change from two days earlier, when the Bulls looked awful in a 28-point home loss to Orlando.
"It's not that (coach Jim Boylen) wanted us to walk it up every time. We just wasn't getting the rebounds," Dunn said. "Today I think we rebounded pretty well. When we got the chance to get out, we got out and ran. We have a lot of great athletes and we try to use them. At the same time, we like to slow it down a little bit and find the mismatch."
This night featured the return of Jabari Parker, who played 14 minutes after sitting out the previous nine games. He scored 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Parker fell out of the rotation because Boylen didn't like his defensive effort, especially in practice. Whether or not Parker is turning things around remains to be seen. The Bulls should get Bobby Portis back from an ankle injury for Sunday's game, so the minutes at power forward may not be available.
With the addition of Chandler Hutchison, the Bulls' starting lineup now has an average age of 21.8 years. Down the stretch, Boylen used guard Shaq Harrison instead of Hutchison.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls