With the 112-99 loss to the Heat, the Bulls dropped to 1-11 against teams with a .600 winning percentage or higher. Coach Billy Donovan was not only squashing excuses on Monday, but hoping his players were learning some tough lessons moving forward.
MIAMI – It’s all in the details from here on out.
At least Nikola Vucevic and the rest of his Bulls teammates hope it is, otherwise their season of promise and excitement is about to turn into a fiery crash of disappointment much sooner than later come playoff time.
In getting beat-up by the Miami Heat on Monday, 112-99, the Bulls watched their record against teams with a .600 winning percentage or better drop to 1-11 this season.
That’s no longer a small sample size, that’s a trend. And not a good one.
“Mainly in the little details,’’ Vucevic said of the latest bruised eye. “We’re just not there yet in the execution. Offensively, defensively, the execution, the communication, doing the little things that we go over in meetings and shootarounds.
“Those are the little things that end up costing you.’’
Case in point, now falling to 0-3 against Miami this season, and falling two games behind the Heat as far as Eastern Conference supremacy.
And while it’s been easy for the Bulls fan base to fall back on the idea of a lot will change once they get the likes of Alex Caruso, Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams back, coach Billy Donovan offered up a little reality check.
“I’ve never believed in the excuse component from the standpoint that these guys are all professional players, they’ve got pride, right?’’ Donovan said. “Anytime you’ve got good players out it hurts any team. Certainly [Miami] has two really good players sitting out in [Victor] Oladipo and [Markieff] Morris, and they’ve gotten hurt with injuries this year like everybody has gone through it.
“I think the biggest thing for me is we have to get battle-tested in some of these games and we just don’t have a lot of guys that have gone into this kind of experience. I think it’s really good for us, and I look at it that way.’’
Credit Donovan for staying positive, because there was very little worth looking at for the Bulls.
DeMar DeRozan watched his streak of 30-plus point games end at 10, finishing with just 18 under the pressure of the Heat defense and a poor shooting night. While Zach LaVine had just 14 through the third, before he hit some meaningless fourth-quarter points to make his night look better than it did.
But Donovan was asked what if these losses to the NBA’s elite has the opposite effect? What if it doesn’t harden the Bulls (39-23)?
“You never escape competition,’’ Donovan replied. “If you’re an All-Star, not an All-Star, when the ball gets thrown up at half-court all that stuff is out the window. If it does get in our head then we can’t become the team we want to become. That’s just not going to happen.’’
It wasn’t going to on Monday, and that was obvious in the very first quarter. That meant a double-digit hole to climb out of, eight points off seven turnovers, just four assists, and then the 1-for-8 shooting display from beyond the three-point range.
The third quarter was even more alarming, as the Heat (41-21) simply appeared to spread the beach towel out, throw some lotion on, and plop down in the sand, looking very comfortable on the offensive end in that stanza, evident by the 13-for-22 shooting and the nine assists.
That was a wrap.
Now, it’s about picking up the pieces, which DeRozan thinks they will.
“You need to be battle-tested,’’ DeRozan said. “A lot of the teams we’ve been facing, they’ve been through it.
“I’ve got the utmost confidence in the guys. In myself and the guys.’’