NEW ORLEANS – Jim Boylen admittedly has no problem playing maître d, and is not against even handing out the menus.
In the estimation of the Bulls coach, however, someone on this roster has to understand what the menu says and place a dang order correctly.
Until then? Dallas happens like it did Monday night.
New Orleans happens like it did Wednesday.
One was much easier to swallow, though, and unfortunately it wasn’t the Pelican.
Thanks to another shaky night on offense, as well as some serious breakdowns on what had been a good defense as of late, the Bulls lost to undermanned New Orleans in embarrassing fashion 123-108.
“Our margin of error is not enough to do that,’’ Boylen said of the offensive letdowns. “That’s the frustrating part. But what I wanted to do was establish a system where we learned how to play basketball. And we get into a playoff situation and when a team locks into you and you play basketball, you don’t run this set and they know it’s coming and they lock you down. You have to make reads.
“So I’m giving these guys the menu where we’re struggling and what read to take. That’s what we’re teaching. That’s the way I believe you build a championship caliber team.’’
In Boylen’s world, this season was about first establishing an identity and a culture with a roster that was void of that since the Tom Thibodeau years.
Rip him or not, he’s done the first part, establishing a top five defense. Now, there are some outside reasons the defense has been successful, starting with one of the easier schedules in the Eastern Conference through last week, as well as taking on a lot of teams that have been without their best players.
But the numbers are the numbers on that end of the court.
Where the numbers are still real concerning? The offensive end. That’s Boylen’s next hill to climb. Against New Orleans (13-25), make that a mountain.
“I know you’re probably making fun of me saying, ‘championship caliber team,’ ‘’ Boylen said. “That’s what I’m trying to build. That’s all I’m worried about. I believe in this business coaching by faith on where we’re going to be. If I shortcut that – not that we don’t need to win – then I don’t really care about the franchise and what we’re doing.’’
That message looked a bit confusing after the latest letdown, and not just because the Bulls are 13-25, but because the same slip-ups keep happening. Specifically, third-quarter letdowns.
Coming out of the halftime locker room locked up at 48-48, Boylen’s hope was his team was start finally understanding the importance of getting ready for the counter-punch and punching back. What he saw was a stanza in which his team was outscored 44-27, allowing the Pelicans to shoot 65 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three.
Even the usually positive Kris Dunn was baffled by this latest stumble.
“Teams are making adjustments and we’ve got to be able to adjust with them,’’ the guard said. “At the same time, it’s our fault, the players on the court. We’ve got to be able to see what they’re doing. We just couldn’t get a grasp of it.
“We gotta be men about it. This is a game of runs, and you’ve got to be able to withstand it and fight through adversity.’’
By the fourth, the energy was gone, and even the usual fourth-quarter push the Bulls have displayed was gone.
“Lack of focus,’’ Dunn said. “You’ve got to understand the players on the court. It’s getting repetitive. Keep saying it, saying it. It’s going to get to a time where are we going to do something about it. We still have a chance to be in a race for the playoffs and it’s gotta mean something to this locker room.’’
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January 09, 2020 at 11:10AM
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Bulls guard Kris Dunn let’s locker room know this one is unacceptable - Chicago Sun-Times
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