Turnovers doom bulls
Ugly fourth quarter against paul, suns brings end to three-game winning streak
There’s really no way for Bulls guard Coby White to put into words what future Hall of Famer Chris Paul has meant to him.
White has tried numerous times since being drafted in 2019, but he usually falls short.
White and Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. played for Paul’s AAU team throughout their high school years, but Paul was more than just a famous sponsor for White and his family. When White’s father, Donald, died of liver cancer in 2017, Paul became like a family member for White and his brother, Will.
So when White is asked about his relationship with Paul off the court, it’s easy to hear the emotion in his voice.
‘‘That’s still big bro,’’ White said Friday. ‘‘That’s family.’’
Even ‘‘family’’ has limits between the lines, however.
‘‘I mean, you step on the court, all that dwindles away,’’ White said. ‘‘All that dwindles away, for sure. We’ve both got one goal when we go out there, and that’s to help our team win the game, no matter what.’’
Unfortunately for White, Paul and the Suns got the better of him and the Bulls 106-97 at the United Center.
Paul and the Suns overcame a seven-point deficit after three quarters and ran down the Bulls in the fourth to put an end to their three-game winning streak.
The culprit was turnovers, turnovers and more turnovers. While the Suns turned the ball over only seven times, the Bulls committed 19 turnovers that led to 24 points. That’s how a team blows a 16-point lead and gets outscored 32-16 in the fourth quarter.
‘‘I think the locker room is hurting,’’ Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. ‘‘We just turned the ball over at an alarming rate. It broke our momentum.
‘‘You know when you’re playing against a good team and certainly a point guard like Chris Paul, who is just not going to turn the ball over, those things just come back and bite you. I think we had done a pretty good job most of the game taking care of the ball, but that fourth quarter, the number of turnovers, I think it was [10] we had just in the fourth quarter alone.
‘‘I mean, you’re in a tight game against a really good team, it’s really hard to overcome that. And then it went from being a close game to them [pulling away] because we just didn’t make good decisions with the ball.’’
It was an all-too-familiar pattern, especially against the better teams in the league. The Bulls dropped to 1-9 against teams that currently have a winning record.
And it wasn’t just the turnovers themselves. The fact they came against a veteran such as Paul made them even worse.
‘‘It’s not only his play, it’s his intelligence, his smarts, his leadership, the way he can orchestrate and move guys around,’’ Donovan said of Paul, whom he coached last season with the Thunder. ‘‘I got a chance to see it firsthand a whole year, and that’s just who he is and what he does.
‘‘When you’re playing against him, the last thing you can do is turn the ball over because he doesn’t turn it over.’’
As for the White-Paul showdown, Paul finished with 14 points and 15 assists to go along with an impressive plus-28 rating. White finished with 19 points and four assists and was a minus-9.
‘‘Big bro’’ was still ‘‘big bro.’’
The NBA often can feel like a back-ofthe-line business. For reserves trying to earn consistent playing time, one slip-up, a few bad games or even lingering injuries can lead to several games in which they don’t play.
This is the reality for Bulls big man Daniel Gafford right now.
Gafford, a second-round pick in 2019, went from starting 11 games in place of injured
Wendell Carter Jr. to not playing in five of the Bulls’ last seven games, including Friday against the Suns, now that Carter is back. He also has lost playing time to big man Luke Kornet.
How long Gafford remains at the back of the line kind of depends on him.
‘‘I think it’s a great lesson for all these guys,’’ Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of his ever-changing rotation. ‘‘Denzel [Valentine] missed a good portion of training camp and was out of the rotation early. He kind of worked his way in and has been a guy that’s been pretty consistent with his minutes. Arch
[Ryan Arcidiacono] has been in and out.
‘‘Gaf, in the role of coming off the bench behind Wendell, in a lot of moments was really productive for us. Wendell went down, and he had to go into that starting position. That probably took him out of rhythm a little bit, probably took his responsibilities . . . and changed them a little bit.
‘‘But I give these guys all a lot of credit for keeping themselves ready and understanding in the climate we’re in right now that things could change very, very quickly.’’
What specifically needs to change for Gafford? In four of his last six starts, he looked to be overthinking everything, rather than just playing. Add in some blown defensive assignments and way too many fouls, and Donovan went to Kornet.
As Donovan put it, there’s more ‘‘gravity’’ with Kornet on the floor. That means that because Kornet is a three-point threat — although he has struggled from outside so far this season — defenses have to respect his shot and pull out of the paint a bit more. That opens up the rim for guards Coby White and
Zach LaVine to attack.
Still, the rotation is subject to change. Everyone on the roster understands that, taking nothing personally and not pouting, as sometimes has been the case in the past.
‘‘He handles all of us professionally,’’ Kornet said of Donovan. ‘‘You don’t really have any doubt that winning games and helping us improve is the No. 1 goal and the reason for everything he’s doing.’’
Vet sighting?
There are still some unanswered questions about forward Otto Porter Jr. and his return from back issues that have hampered him for most of the season, but the news was better Friday.
‘‘He’s been able to do a lot more the last three days,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘He’s ramped up quite a bit where he’s running, doing conditioning, shooting. There’s still no contact, but I was on the court with him [Thursday], and he’s just working to get himself back
into shape.
‘‘But he’s been cleared to do a lot of things on the court . . . . I think he’s made progress. He’s gotten better, and I think he’s certainly getting advice from the doctors.’’