It got out of hand quickly for the Bulls.
Both the Rockets and Bulls struggled during the first half. Baskets were hard to come by. But during the second quarter, the Rockets started relentlessly attacking the paint. Protecting the paint is the Bulls’ biggest issue, which is saying something given the team’s myriad issues on that end.
The poor performance in the second quarter was the impetus for the Bulls’ 143-107 loss to the Rockets. The Bulls allowed at least 40 points in the second and third quarters and were down by as many as 39 points.
Allowing 143 points goes beyond offensive sets and X’s and O’s, and the players know they have to perform better, and Sunday’s game was unacceptable. They have to be more physical defensively and offer more resistance against drives.
“It’s just a compete thing; you got to compete at a higher level,” guard Coby White said. “We got to be more physical. We got to take a stand; giving up 140-plus in back-to-back games is unacceptable. It’s embarrassing, it’s a disservice to the organization, a disservice to the fanbase.”
The Rockets’ paint-oriented attack punished the Bulls, scoring 80 points in the paint as the Bulls offered little resistance against the Rockets’ penetration and drives.
The Bulls weren’t able to string together many stops on Sunday, which hurts the team on both ends of the court. At their best, the Bulls turn opponent’s misses into transition opportunities. But because they were either fouling, allowing the Rockets to get whatever they wanted in the paint, the Bulls were forced to play more of a halfcourt game than they would like — only the Memphis Grizzlies get out in transition more than the Bulls — but the Bulls mustered just 15 fastbreak points.
The Rockets were the team dictating pace and turning miscues into points. It was a letdown performance for the Bulls in the first game of a back-to-back and the start of five games in seven days.
“People don’t care,” guard Zach LaVine said. “Teams aren’t going to come in and be like, ‘Oh, they’re playing five in seven.’ They don’t give a damn, you got to play everybody in front of you.”
Coach Billy Donovan said he believes the Bulls’ shooting woes affected the team. The Bulls attempted a franchise-record 56 three-pointers but only made 14.
“I thought because we struggled to shoot the basketball after a period of time, it drained us,” Donovan said. “And this is one of those games where you have to find alternative ways to try to win because we certainly created a lot of really good looks.”
LaVine said the team can’t “let our offense dictate our defense” and that the team needs to be tougher to avoid nights like Sunday.
Though the Bulls allowed 144 points against the Cavaliers, White said the requisite effort was there, but the Cavaliers were just lights-out offensively. But White felt the Rockets were physically imposing against the Bulls.
“They were more physical than us,” White said. “They out-competed us. They dominated us on both ends of the floor.”
The Bulls’ schedule doesn’t let up after Monday’s game in Detroit against a feisty Pistons team, with games against Milwaukee and Atlanta after. They have to ensure they show up with the requisite effort and intensity, or more results like Sunday’s loss could follow.
“We got to be a lot tougher collectively,” LaVine said. “We just can’t let it snowball like it did tonight. We’ve been playing well all year and competitive. Tonight was the total opposite of that.”