Improvement doesn’t translate to win in LA

Bulls coach Billy Donovan recalled a film session following the second game of the season, a blowout loss against the Indiana Pacers. A Pacers scoring run in the second quarter flipped the game, and Donovan was stunned by the body language he sawon the court.

“Their bench is going crazy and our guys were like just totally defeated — and it was like in the second quarter,” Donovan said after Friday’s 117-115 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. “I was amazed at the competitive spirit. … There was like zero endurance, zero resiliency, zero fight. I just kept talking to them about it.”

The Bulls could not overcome the talent gap to pull off an upset over the defending champion Lakers, even with Anthony Davis sidelined, but the team that took the floor Friday night looked miles apart from from the team that suffered concerning blowout losses to the Pacers andAtlantaHawks.

No, moral victories are not going to help the Bulls in the win-loss column. But after a disastrous start there is reason to be encouraged about their path toward some level of competence. That’s a major upgrade fromwhere they started the season.

“Itwas almost like a slap in the face,” said guard Zach LaVine, who scored 38 points and missed a potential go-ahead jumper with 4.7 seconds left.

“Like, look, if you guys don’tcomeout and play right, you’re going to get beat.”

To be clear, the Bulls need to clean up in some areas and improve in others. But the team, most of which is intact from last season, seems to be benefiting from an upgrade on the bench.

“(Donovan) just brings a certain aura with him, a certain kind of vibe that he has,” centerWendell Carter Jr. said. “He will tell you what you did wrong, but at the same time he’s anencouraging coach. I feel likewe all need that, especially with us being a very young team.”

Here are two takeaways from the Bulls’ loss to the Lakers:

1. The Bulls look much more competitive. Will that translate to wins?

The Bulls were in position to steal a game from the Lakers, who were without one of their stars. And while LaVine missed in the final seconds, some sloppy play in the fourth quarter doomed the Bulls well before that shot didn’t go in.

“Overall, we played pretty damn good,” LaVine said. “It just sucks when you can’t pull them out when you play good.”

So while it is an accomplishment that the Bulls are starting to look much more competitive, especially considering their rotation has been a bit depleted recently, their next step is to start closing out some of these games and coming away with wins.

They overcame a 20-point deficit against the Portland Trail Blazers to pull off a victory. But they did not executewellenough down the stretch against the Sacramento Kings onWednesday or Lakers on Friday.

“The thing I’m most pleased about because of what happened (in) the first Houston preseason game and then the Indiana game and the Atlanta game is when we got punched, we just kind of stopped,” Donovan said. “And we’ve gotten better competing. You have to at least start there.

“That’s whatwe’ve really tried to stress to those guys: the competing part. Now we have to start to address getting better at not beating ourselves.

“I don’t know what’s turned it around or why, but I tried to explain or educate or talk to them about what competition is and how youhave torespondto theadversityandwhy adversity is good. I don’t knowif it’s helped a lot, but we certainly have talked about it a lot.”

2. The latest test for rookie Patrick Williams? Guarding LeBron James.

Clearly, the Bulls have decided the best way for rookieWilliams to learn this season is to be thrown directly into action.

Didn’t start in college? Into the starting lineup you go fromopening night. Youwant to be an elite defender? OK, your assignment is guarding reigning two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now try to do what a generation of players has been failing to accomplish: slowdown James.

“I can’t really say much except I got better,” Williams said. “I got better tonight as a defender, as a player. Just being around him, watching him, guarding him — I got better. In the 10th game of the season, that’s all you can ask for. I took on the challenge.

“I mean — he is LeBron James, so he’s going to get his. He’s going to get to his spots. But you just have got to make him take the tough ones, and he’s making the tough ones.”

The Bulls threw a few different bodies at James, but Williams served as his primary defender and didn’t back down. He noted that his chestwas “onfire” after the repeated blowsthatcomefromguarding Antetokounmpo, but he made an adjustment from that experience.

“From Giannis, I learned that you can’t lean on him,” Williams said. “You can’t really play with your chest. You’ve got to play with your hands to make him uncomfortable.”

So what did he learn from guarding James?

“Just how to pick your spots,” he said. “He’s really good at picking his spots and then sticking withwhatworks. Andthen just also getting his teammates available.

“He was so aggressive there in the midpost area that then I had to help. It means they would have kicked out and found shooters and things like that.”