Chicago Bulls can't score down stretch, let one get away at Indiana
The Bulls figure to win the NBA's "last two-minute report," the daily assessment of referee's calls. But they can't erase the loss in the standings.
The Bulls played one of their best games of the season Wednesday night and had a 7-point lead against the Indiana Pacers with less than three minutes remaining.
The rest of the night was a nightmare, though, as the Bulls' offense sputtered to a halt, allowing Indiana to rally for a 115-106 victory in overtime.
Pacers all-star guard Victor Oladipo made his season debut after spending more than a year to recover from a torn quad tendon. Oladipo didn't do much until he saved the game for Indiana by draining a long 3-pointer over Chandler Hutchison to tie the score with nine seconds left in regulation.
"My feet were above the 3 and I've just got to be aware," Hutchison said after the game. "He's an elite player. I thought I gave a pretty good contest, but I've just got to make him put it down in that situation, where the 3 is the only thing that can tie it. I'm going to learn from it. He hit a tough shot, though."
The final possession of regulation is what bothered the Bulls. LaVine drove into the lane, went up to take an open look at a 10-footer and was clearly hacked across the arm from behind by Oladipo. LaVine lost the ball, time ran out and the teams headed to overtime with no foul call.
Coach Jim Boylen couldn't challenge the play, because under NBA rules you can't challenge non-calls. He did use the coach's challenge in overtime to question a foul on LaVine, but lost that one.
So, yes, the Bulls had a legitimate gripe. LaVine should have been shooting free throws with maybe a second left. But if they had scored on any of their previous seven possessions, it wouldn't have mattered.
The good news is Hutchison had his best game as a pro, scoring a team-high 21 points. He attacked the basket with authority and scored most of his points on dunks. LaVine had 20 points, but hit 1 of 11 attempts from 3-point range.
"I thought we battled, I thought we played hard, had the game under control," Boylen told reporters after the game. "I thought we had opportunities to make plays at the end. A couple of those looked like they maybe could have been called as fouls. They weren't, that happens in our game. So you move on, but we battled."
Asked what the referees told him about the last play in regulation, Boylen said, "I can't get into all that. It's a path I don't want to go down."
The game was tied at 90-90 midway through the fourth quarter when the Bulls made their move. Denzel Valentine hit a jumper, got a steal and fed LaVine for an alley-oop dunk. Then Tomas Satoransky hit a 3-pointer and another jumper to put the Bulls up 100-93 with 4:11 remaining.
That was their last basket of the fourth quarter. The Bulls seemed to get too casual on the offensive end, as Valentine and LaVine missed 3-pointers on the next three trips.
The Pacers didn't cut into the lead until Malcolm Brogdon hit a driving lay-in with 2:32 left. Then Brogdon stole a LaVine pass and his fastbreak dunk cut the margin to 3.
LaVine missed another 3-pointer, the Bulls tried a pick-and-roll and turned it over, and LaVine missed a drive to the hoop and still they led by 3. Former Bull Justin Holiday missed a corner 3-pointer, but the rebound went out of bounds to the Pacers. On the next chance, Oladipo drained the tying 3-pointer from a long way out.
On Thursday, the NBA will announce the all-star reserves. LaVine has a chance but will most likely be left out because of the Bulls' losing record. He might have a better chance as an injury replacement. Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and Domantas Sabonis figure to be included, which would leave one spot for either LaVine, Kyrie Irving or Spencer Dinwiddie from Brooklyn, NBA rebound leader Andre Drummond, Orlando center Nikola Vucevic or Washington guard Bradley Beal.
Some NBA players have been switching their jerseys from No. 8 or No. 24 - Dinwiddie is one who switched - to honor the memory of Kobe Bryant, since those were the numbers he wore with the Lakers. LaVine (No. 8) and Lauri Markkanen (No. 24) told reporters they planned to keep wearing those numbers and honor Bryant that way.
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