By daring Bulls to shoot, OKC rolls to easy win in season opener
The cliché that came to mind while watching the Bulls struggle in their season opener on Wednesday contains the words, "old dogs" and "new tricks."
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault must have heard the Bulls plan to shoot more 3-pointers this season. The Thunder seemed perfectly content to let the Bulls fire away from long range.
While the Bulls went 12 for 42 from behind the arc, the Thunder pulled away in the second half to post an alarming 124-104 victory in the Bulls' home opener at the United Center.
This result had the Bulls talking to each other in the locker room when it was over, which coach Billy Donovan thought was a positive development.
"I will say the one thing I think was good with the heated conversations and confrontations is that would have never happened last year, ever," Donovan said. "There would have been a quiet group."
According to Donovan, he walked into the locker room after the game, saw the players engulfed in conversation, asked if they needed some space and left them alone.
"Actually very constructive," center Nikola Vucevic said. "I think it was good for us that we had those. I think it was needed. It was just regular discussions of what needs to be done. A lot of guys said a lot of good things, things that need to be said. I think we can really use this to learn and change some things we need to change.
"It was nothing crazy, no fighting or none of that, it was really constructive and maybe one of the first times since I've been here that it was like this and it was really needed."
Late in the third quarter, Vucevic got a technical foul for throwing the ball at the basket support in frustration and also had a conversation with Donovan on the bench.
"Whether he was frustrated with not touching the ball, the way we were playing offensively, I certainly could see it too," Donovan said. "I've said this before, I think confrontation's good. I think it's healthy.
"I've got all the respect in the world for Vuc and he felt a certain way and I kind of said what I felt. He's probably not wrong for feeling the way he did, but how do you channel that in a way that kind of galvanizes the group and lifts them up?"
The Bulls had a clear advantage in post presence, with Vucevic and Andre Drummond matching up mostly against 7-foot, 195-pound Chet Holmgren, playing in his first NBA game after missing his rookie season with a foot injury; or 20-year-old Ousmane Dieng, listed at 6-10, 216.
But getting the ball into the post was a challenge all game. Drummond produced a fun highlight when he stole a pass at midcourt, then crossed over Holmgren on the way to a fast-break layup, causing the former Gonzaga star to stumble to the floor.
Otherwise, the Thunder made the strategic decision to not let Vucevic beat up on Holmgren. OKC used its speed and length to collapse in the paint, daring the Bulls to kick it outside and shoot 3s.
Last year the Bulls averaged 28.9 attempts per game from 3-point land. They passed that early in the third quarter in this game. The Bulls shot more 3s than usual, but otherwise there were mostly the same problems as in the past, reverting to one-on-one play too often and not adjusting to what the Thunder was doing.
The Thunder could take comfort in having the best player on the court by a wide margin in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 31 points, plus matchup nightmare Josh Giddey.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 20 points, Zach LaVine had 16 and Coby White 15, but none of those three shot it well. LaVine went 4-for-16.
"You can just tell guys get down and they get dejected (when missing shots)," Donovan said. "There's got to be some resiliency and some fight to get through that. We've got to be able to maintain a standard of play on both ends of the floor."
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