LaVine not shying from final shots
The Bulls had the ball in the right player’s hands Friday night against the Warriors. They just didn’t get the result they had hoped.
Zach LaVine missed a 29-foot potential winning shot from the left wing with 2 seconds remaining, and the lowly Warriors held on for a 100-98 victory in front of 18,841 at the United Center.
The Bulls led throughout much of the game but were outscored 23-15 in the final quarter to see their two-game winning streak come to an end. The Warriors (5-19) snapped a four-game losing streak and won for just the second time in nine games. Both victories came against the Bulls (8-15).
Here are three takeaways from another rough Bulls loss.
1. Zach LaVine didn’t shy from the moment.
LaVine wanted to be in that situation. Down two, 13 seconds to go, and he has the ball with a chance to win.
He worked the clock to 2 seconds and launched the 3-point attempt that hit the back of the iron.
“I just wish I made it,” LaVine said. “That’s the main thing. I got a good look at it.”
Would it have been wiser to take a shot with a little more time left for a secondchance opportunity? LaVine didn’t think it came too late.
“I’ve had games where I’ve gone to the hoop and got fouled and scored a two and we tied it up and we went on to win or we went on and lost,” he said. “I just thought it was a good shot. I’ll take it again and the next time I’ll think I’ll make it too.”
LaVine has been clutch in the past, as his game-winner against the Hornets on Nov. 23 would illustrate.
It just didn’t work out Friday. While coach Jim Boylen said the “timing of it maybe could have been better,” he acknowledged that “it’s a rhythm thing.”
“It’s how you feel,” Boylen said. He’s done a good job of that and I believe in him in that situation and (Friday) it didn’t go down. We’ll learn from it and move on.”
2. Emotions cut short Denzel Valentine’s productive night.
Valentine said he never had been ejected from a game at any level.
“Little league, middle school, high school,” he said.
That streak ended Friday when he was ejected after receiving his second technical with 7:50 remaining in the game.
Valentine received the first technical after exchanging words with the Warriors’ Omari Spellman with 28.7 seconds left in the third quarter. Valentine was on the bench in the fourth quarter when general trash talking continued. Valentine received the second technical, and his night was over.
“It was just two teams playing hard,” he said. “Some words were exchanged. Sometimes the game does that. It just depends on the night.”
It was costly for the Bulls.
The ejection cut short a productive game. Valentine scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 13 minutes. He also had two rebounds and two assists.
“The game of basketball had been taken away from me for a year and now I’m getting to play,” said Valentine, who missed all of last season after left ankle surgery. “I’m playing with passion. I’m playing with emotion. That’s what I did (Friday).”
3. The offense disappeared down the stretch.
Lauri Markkanen had a big first half, scoring 17 of his 20 points before intermission.
The third quarter belonged to LaVine, who poured in 15 of his game-high 22 points.
The Bulls led 83-77 at the end of the third quarter. The offense disappeared in the fourth. And so did the lead.
The offense just didn’t click in crunch time.
“We got in the penalty early in the last two games in the fourth (quarter), we did not do that (Friday),” Boylen said. “That had something to do with it. We missed some plays at the rim and we missed some open looks. We had some stagnant possessions. Credit them for that and some of that is us.”