Bulls vs. Blazers 11/17

 

Bulls vs. Blazers

11/17/21

Chicago's Achilles Heel, DeRozan DeRailed, The Coach's Challenge, and More!

The Bulls dropped to 10-5 on the season and 2-2 on the West Coast Road Trip after losing to the now 8-8 Blazers.  Zach Lavine led the way for the Bulls with 30 points on 11-20 shooting.  He made at least 6 threes in a game for the third straight game, this time going 7-12.  DeRozan scored 22 on 7-19 from the field and Ball stepped up as the third scorer with 17 on 7-13 shooting, which included 3 threes and several nice drives to the hoop.

The Blazers' backcourt was held in check, with Lillard finishing 6-18 for 22 points, and McCollum 4-14 for just 9 points.  Yet they somehow manufactured a win, arguably their best of the season.  They improve to 7-1 at home.

For Chicago, the loss stings because they took control of this game early, yet again, and for much of the first half the lead hovered around 15 or so.  It grew to as much as 20 late in the second quarter.  Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were completely shut down in the first half; incredibly, neither one was able to score a point until late in the 2nd quarter, and even then the ball didn't go through the hoop as Lillard was credited for two off of a goaltending violation.  The Blazers looked ready to quit.

The 3rd quarter began quite a different story, though.  The Blazers played some zone, they doubled Lavine hard when DeRozan went to the bench, and the strategy was once again effective.  The Blazers crept back into the game and hung around a 10-point deficit for a while before they finally made a quick mini-run to close the gap to a couple buckets and put the pressure on Chicago.  

The Bulls never looked comfortable again, and the Blazers took advantage of some careless passes and lackadaisical play.  Lillard and McCollum never really came alive but they did just enough and got huge contributions from the bigs -- or big contributions from the huges? - Larry Nance and Jusuf Nurkic.  

Zach Lavine bricked a wide open 3 with 10 seconds left that would have tied it.  The Bulls were then forced to foul and the Blazers iced it from the line.

So what did we learn tonight?

Three Thoughts From Today's Game

1. The Bulls Have An Achilles Heel -- For Now

No, I'm not even going to talk about size and rebounding.  It's about how successful teams have been when they turn to a zone defense or throw hard doubles at either DeRozan or Lavine when the other is on the bench.  The strategy seems particularly effective against Lavine as he is looser with the ball and lacks the decision-making that DeRozan typically shows.  Lavine got doubled relentlessly in the 3rd quarter, and since the role players can't initiate the action, and most cannot reliably knock down a 3-point shot either (Caruso passed up a lot of take-able 3s tonight), it's a strategy that's working for teams, and the Bulls are going to see more of it.  Vucevic will hopefully counter this strategy when he comes back.  Otherwise, the Bulls will have problems.

2. DeRozan DeRailed

Yes, DeRozan is DeMarvelous but he also just DeHuman.  DeRozan was on fire in the first half, but he went ice cold in the second half, although it was also due to the Blazers contesting almost every one of his shots.  He made uncharacteristically bad choices down the stretch as well that led to turnovers or shots that were as good as turnovers while perhaps forcing the action in isolation plays too much and too often.  Though his aggressive plays also helped him get to the line and keep the Bulls in the game as well.  Regardless, the Bulls' need for either a creator to break down defenses, a deadly 3-point shooter or 2 to demand attention and dissuade opponents from doubling the stars, or a big man like Vucevic to pose a threat in the middle were glaring in their absence in the second half of this one.  Credit the Blazers for making good adjustments and not quitting.  

3. The Coach's Challenge

Someone PLEASE explain to me why Coach Donovan refuses to use a challenge this season.  Caruso has asked for it several times this season near the end of games, and he's been right every time by my count... yet Donovan will not use the challenge.  Does he have some moral issue with the existence of such a rule?  I mean I guess he doesn't want to lose a timeout, but when it's a critical play that will change possessions or directly affect points near the end of a game, it's more valuable than an extra timeout.  They had a timeout's worth of time to review the play that would have given the Bulls the ball near the end of the game, too.  I don't get it.

Still love Billy Donovan though.