CHARLOTTE – Zach LaVine would like to have gone over the final few minutes in detail, telling everyone within earshot about the “craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,’’ but that was a bit of an issue.
It usually is when you “black out.’’
“I did, I blacked out,’’ LaVine said after Saturday’s improbable 116-115 Bulls win.
From a benching to blacking out – quite the 24-hour roller coaster for LaVine.
Thanks to overcoming an eight-point deficit in the final 45 seconds, LaVine was able to vindicate himself from the Miami game on Friday, as the Bulls guard became just the third player in NBA history to hit at least 13 three-pointers in a game on his way to a career-high 49 points, including his Reggie Miller moment.
With the Bulls down two after a Tomas Satoransky three-pointer, LaVine was in the right place at the right time, picking up a loose ball with 3.5 seconds left, dribbling it backwards behind the three-point line, and letting it fly.
Nothing but net, and the game, as the Hornets could only throw a desperation bomb with 0.8 left, which Wendell Carter Jr. picked off.
“Every play was crucial,’’ LaVine said. “We just kept hitting shots. Something happened [on the steal]. I pretty much said, ‘[Bleep] it, I’m going for the game.’
“Once I shot it I knew it was cash.’’
Confident? Absolutely. Quite a difference from where LaVine was 24 hours earlier, admittedly unable to even go to sleep until “4:30 or 5 in the morning.’’
Before the win over Charlotte, both LaVine and coach Jim Boylen confirmed that they had an afternoon meeting in Boylen’s suite on Saturday afternoon, with just one topic on the table: Hashing out what took place in the Friday night loss to Miami. Specifically, the fact that Boylen benched LaVine within the first 3:30 of the game, and then labeled his defensive miscues afterward as “egregious.’’
That didn’t sit well with LaVine, who felt like he was unfairly singled out by his coach, once again refreshing a storyline from last season that the two just didn’t see eye-to-eye.
“I let him know how I felt,’’ LaVine said of the sit-down. “I don’t want it to get bigger than that. … We’re not going to try and drag this out. We had a misunderstanding. We still have a lot of things to work-out as a team, personal, coaching, we all have to be accountable for our actions, so I think that’s where we’re at.’’
A good starting spot in their relationship, but there’s undoubtedly work to do.
“[LaVine] came to the suite and we just talked,’’ Boylen said. “It was good. It’s what we’ve done. It’s what we do. Our goals are the same –for him to become the best player he can become and for our team to play better basketball more often. Nothing has changed on that. And we’re moving forward.’’
Boylen said he wasn’t even the least bit bothered that LaVine was immediately vocal after the Heat game about being “singled out,’’ even questioning the trust between the two to the media.
“No, because I know Zach’s heart,’’ Boylen said. “I know what kind of person he is. I know he cares about the team. I know he cares about playing good basketball. I know we all can get frustrated with a poor performance, me included with my performance. Those things happen.’’
That’s why Boylen admittedly had no problem calling out LaVine, and even confessed that he did single the sixth-year player out.
“Yeah, that’s the greatest love you can show somebody,’’ Boylen said. “It’s to try to help them become who they can become.’’
What LaVine became – for at least one night – was once again the face of franchise still searching.
