More lessons to learn as Bulls fall short vs. Utah
Zach LaVine tried his best, but will have to sit through another semester of "It's tough to win in the NBA."
The Bulls are still searching for their first victory of the season over a quality opponent at full strength. They were in good position Thursday, tied with less than 2 minutes remaining against the Utah Jazz, but lost 102-98.
LaVine tied the score by draining a 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining, after the Bulls trailed by 9 with less than 5 minutes left.
After that, he committed a foul that led to the go-ahead free throws, missed a 3-pointer that would have put the Bulls ahead, then couldn't finish a drive to the basket.
"We're going to keep putting him in those situations," Bulls coach Jim Boylen said. "We're going to keep believing in him. I think the outcome of the game is frustrating and disappointing. The fact that we were down 10, we battled back, we kept competing, against a playoff team - I think we can build off those things."
This is the biggest hurdle for the Bulls right now, being able to score execute late in games when a better team is locked in. Typically, the only way to solve the issue is to put more experienced players on the court, but that won't be happening anytime soon for the Bulls.
"You get upset over games you think you can win," LaVine said. "I think we played really well tonight. Just a couple plays away. We've got to learn how to finish a little bit better. Not learn how to finish, we've finished games before. We've just got to be more consistent with it. They're a good team. They made some really tough shots."
LaVine has hit some game-winning shots against Charlotte and a short-handed Clippers squad. But if the Bulls (13-22) believe they have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs, they can't go 0-3 in a week when three quality teams visit the UC. They'll get one more chance at that quality win on Saturday against Boston.
LaVine led the Bulls with 26 points, but hit just 9 of 26 shots overall and 3 of 11 from 3-point range. Lauri Markkanen added 18 points.
Center Wendell Carter Jr. did a good job with a tough matchup. He finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Utah's Rudy Gobert had 17 and 12.
The Bulls scored the first 7 points of the third quarter to open an 11-point lead, but it didn't last long. It took about eight minutes for Utah (22-12) to engineer a 20-point swing and pull out to a 71-62 advantage with 2:38 left in the third.
Markkanen's 3-pointer brought the Bulls within 3 points with 7:40 left in the final quarter. Utah went back ahead by 9, but the Bulls kept chipping away until LaVine tied it.
After that, it was all about execution. The Jazz went right to Bojan Bogdanovic backing down LaVine in the lane. Thanks to some poor defensive fundamentals, Bogdanovic was able to draw the foul and hit both free throws to put Utah back in front.
LaVine went for the jugular and launched a long 3-pointer for the lead, but it bounced off the rim. The Jazz answered with a Gobert dunk off a pick-and-roll to go up 100-96 with 1:01 left.
Carter hit 2 free throws and the Bulls got a defensive stop. This time, LaVine tried attacking the basket and couldn't finish over Gobert, a two-time defensive player of the year, with about 20 seconds left. Once Mitchell knocked down 2 more free throws, it was over.
"Tried to draw some contact," LaVine said. "I thought I had him out of position. I hit him with the body. I did the best I could. I didn't want to just settle for the 3. I didn't convert a lot of those. I thought I was getting a lot of contact, but you can't leave it to (the referees). You've got to go out there and make plays."
That's easier said than done for a team trying to succeed with players who have never experienced winning in the NBA.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls