Zach LaVine shouldn’t have been talking about a loss on Friday night.
Not after the Bulls guard had just spent the last few hours putting on a 50-point scoring clinic never experienced at any point in his career.
It wasn’t exactly rare air, however.
LaVine became the 10th NBA player this season to cross the 50-point barrier, and the record of the teams when that’s occurred? How about just 6-4.
Heck, both Stephen Curry and Bradley Beal each hit the 60-plus mark in this 2020-21 campaign, and while Curry’s Warriors pulled out the win, Beal and the Wizards lost to the 76ers 141-136.
Two very similar components in the LaVine and Beal losses? Horrible defensive efforts, and a surrounding cast that couldn’t step up when opposing defenses went all-out lockdown on the main scoring threat.
In the case of Beal, the Wizards guard had 57 points through three, with the Sixers turning up the heat on him in the final stanza and holding him to just three points. Wizards teammate Russell Westbrook did finish with 20, but the other three starters – Thomas Bryant, Rui Hachimura and Deni Avdija – combined for just 20 total points.
LaVine had 44 going into the final quarter, as Atlanta’s defense didn’t wait until the last 12 minutes to get aggressive in getting the ball out of his hands. They started blitzing LaVine late in the first half when he had 39, and never stopped.
“What I saw was toward the end of the second quarter and into the third, they would have a guy guard me full court,’’ LaVine said. “They were doing it normally, but then they would just jump me at half-court with Solomon Hill or [Danilo] Gallinari or [Bogdan] Bogdanovic. If one of those guys was guarding me, they’d just bring them off, just pretty much get the ball out of my hand at half-court. I was fine with that. We just had to make some more plays.’’
There was the major issue.
More plays weren’t made. Nikola Vucevic – much like Westbrook did for Beal – helped lighten the load, scoring 25, but the other three starters – Thad Young, Patrick Williams and Tomas Satoransky – combined for eight. That included Satoransky taking the zero on an 0-for-6 shooting night.
“I thought when they started trapping [LaVine] we just didn’t make enough plays,’’ coach Billy Donovan said. “We had plenty of plays to make. [The Hawks] were leaving the floor wide open.’’
The hope coming out of the latest loss remained that with 21 games left and a playoff spot still hanging in the balance, some painful lessons were learned. How many painful lessons need to be felt by this group, however, before it starts resonating?
“Hopefully, we can take care of that,’’ Vucevic said of the improvements that are still a work in progress. “We’re working on it and talking and watching film. There’s a lot we can fix right away. We just have to put the effort in to do it.’’
As for LaVine and what he accomplished individually, while he insisted a win would have meant more, he was able to step back and appreciate the night.
“I had every number at 40 up to this point, so it’s been eluding me,’’ LaVine said. “I give credit to [the Hawks], man. Guys get going like that, they made a business call – ‘OK, we’re not going to let this guy beat us.’
“I would’ve much rather had a 50-point game in a win than a loss. That’s the salty part about it.’’
Then LaVine was reminded that he only needed 37 more 50-point games to tie Michael Jordan.
“That dude’s a ghost,’’ LaVine said. “He’s a myth.’’
