CLEVELAND – Billy Donovan seldom walks on the side of being irrational.
That doesn’t mean the Bulls coach isn’t counting on sleepless nights and some angry moments after losses this season. After all, he is a coach.
But he also knows there’s a fine line between expectation and what’s realistic with this roster.
What he won’t accept? What he got in the first 90 seconds of Tuesday’s preseason opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
An Evan Mobley 1-footer to start the game, a Donovan Mitchell three-pointer in Zach LaVine’s face, and then another Micthell three for the 8-0 opening-round flurry. All the while, the offense playing the exact opposite of what was game-planned and talked about.
Heck yeah, the coach wasted no time calling the timeout.
“(Poor defense), and also the offensive part too,” Donovan said of the quick timeout. “The other thing we talked about, even before going out, was that we wanted to make sure the ball was inbounded quickly and we can get up the floor, attack, kind of establish that. And the first two possessions on a made basket, we’ve got our point guard (Josh Giddey) inbounding it and we’re slow coming down the floor, letting them get set.
“And then some of the physicality at the basket. Like those are the things we worked on. Especially talking about it before the game.”
The good news for Donovan? The second and third teamers did eventually pull the Bulls out of the nosedive after a first-half deficit in which they were outscored 67-54 and allowed the home team to shoot 47% from the field, winning the game 116-112.
That doesn’t mean it was a successful night, however.
That 13-point halftime hole was with the starters and key rotation players like Ayo Dosunmu, Jalen Smith, Julian Phillips and Jalen Smith on the floor, and that start to the game was a gut-punch.
“First problem was the defense,” Giddey said. “They got easy looks, started making them. But the second problem was we’re trying to emphasize getting the ball up quick, get it up the floor, and didn’t do that the first 90 seconds of the game.
“I felt like after that timeout we got back to who we are, what our identity is, what we’re trying to do, so slow start kind of happened. You can’t come out of the gates playing like that.”
Giddey, who was playing in his first real competitive basketball game since injuring his ankle in the Olympics finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting, as well as seven rebounds and three assists. Meanwhile, Coby White led the Bulls with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
Rookie Matas Buzelis was solid off the bench, finishing with 12 points.
Thanks to a third quarter in which the Bulls’ depth proved to be much better than Cleveland’s, the visiting team outscored the Cavs 34-18 to get back into the game and eventually take the lead for good in the final stanza.
Not that Donovan sounded like a guy that’s ready to print playoff tickets just yet. He’s aware of how the outside world views this Bulls team this season. That’s why wins and losses aren’t the only thing atop his agenda.
“I do think obviously it’s a players’ league, it’s a talent league, but I also have the belief that if you can get a group of guys connected and believing, playing together, you can do special things,” Donovan said. “We as a team, whether it’s (Las) Vegas or what people think, we have a chance to focus on what do we actually have control over? Can we control how we’re going to respond, how we’re going to play, how we’re going to support one another, what kind of team we can become? Those are the things that will become important to me.”