Once again, Bulls lose the will to compete in loss to Charlotte
The Bulls had a chance to put Tuesday's second-half collapse against Indiana behind them. Instead, they trotted out a reprise of the same script in Charlotte.
After a decent first half, the Bulls' compete level slowly dropped to empty. They held a 10-point lead in the third quarter, then let the Hornets orchestrate a 25-point swing and lost 111-96 on Thursday.
There's still one stop left on this three-game road trip Saturday in Orlando. There were expectations of reaching .500 before returning home. Instead, the Bulls suffered another sad loss to one of the league's worst teams.
"I think we have got to find just more desperation," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said after the game. "That's what it's going to take. Obviously they're a good offensive team, but it was way too easy. Especially around the basket, there wasn't a whole lot of resistance."
Some numbers that stand out are 5-for-23, which is what the Bulls shot in the fourth quarter. Charlotte turned up the defense and the Bulls wanted no part of it. When the Hive started buzzing, the Bulls seemed to concede defeat.
"We can't just line up and go out there and play and everything's going to work out and we're going to wait for the fourth quarter and we're going to close the game out," Donovan said. "That happened a lot last year, it's not happening this year. We've got to come together to try to be able to do that."
The game was tied 87-87 with 8:40 remaining, but the Bulls missed their next seven shots while Charlotte went on a 10-1 run. When Zach LaVine went on the attack and scored consecutive baskets, the Bulls were within 6 points with 2:45 left, but Terry Rozier hit a jumper, then center Mason Plumlee scored twice in a row, and this one was over.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 28 points, but nobody shot the ball well. LaVine finished with 18 points. After getting his jersey retired by West Charlotte High School on Wednesday, Patrick Williams had a decent game with 15 points.
Nikola Vucevic was outplayed by Plumlee, who finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Coby White usually plays well in his home state of North Carolina, but finished with just 6 points in this one, going 2-for-9 from the field.
Charlotte's LaMelo Ball was back on the court after missing three games with wrist and ankle injuries. Gordon Hayward also played after missing nine of the previous 11 games.
Ball and Terry Rozier didn't play when the Hornets lost 106-88 at the United Center on Nov. 2. Charlotte's leading scorer that night, Kelly Oubre Jr., is currently sidelined by a hand surgery. Rozier led the Hornets with 28 points Thursday.
At one point, Charlotte missed 18 straight 3-point shots, but eventually found the range and finished the night 7-for 32 from long range, while the Bulls were a paltry 4-for-25.
Donovan has complained often about the Bulls letting game details, like poor shooting or foul calls, dictate their level of intensity. This time, they seemed to create their own frustration with some bad turnovers in the third quarter.
"Some of the turnovers were like crazy, just careless," Donovan said. "We've just got to be more fundamental. Some of the passes they just don't need to be made. Or they've got to be executed better."
The Bulls (22-26) finished with just 13 turnovers, but five happened in the third quarter, by five different players, leading to 10 Charlotte points.
"We forced 10 turnovers in the first half," Donovan said. "We were pretty active, it's just the ability to sustain it for 48 minutes. (We need) to get to that point where you put your foot down and you treat every possession like it's the last one."
DeRozan was the only Bulls player who made a ripple in NBA All-Star voting announced Thursday. He finished sixth among East backcourt players. He was fourth in the player voting and ranked 10th by the media panel.
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