The problems with this Bulls team are obvious.
Billy Donovan’s focus?
The solutions.
That’s where it gets a bit more complicated for the coach.
The last two games alone have been reminders of the flaws within the core group. Blowing a 23-point lead to San Antonio on Wednesday, and then following that up in Denver on Friday night, up 14 with eight minutes left, only to watch the slow crumble happen yet again.
That’s why Donovan was as emotional as he’s been both during and after a loss. The “self-fulfilling prophesy’’ – as Donovan calls it – of losing games was prevalent throughout the first half of the season, and obviously doesn’t seem to be going anywhere now that the second half is underway.
So what’s the fix? According to Donovan, it’s a mindset that has to change from top to bottom.
“This is the challenge for this team, the hurdle of getting over that where I don’t know how else to say it but we got to come together and take that on as a team,’’ Donovan said. “And I do think whether I don’t want to say it’s in their head, not in their head, that’s this is the team’s challenge to take another step. We can blame it on a lot of things, youth, inexperience, other stuff, I don’t buy it. We’ve got to be able to do it.
“We as coaches have to help them, and we as coaches have to try to continue to instill the things they’ve got to do to win. So I’m not singling them out, as I am throwing myself in there with them. We all need to do a better job when those moments come. Seven minutes up double digits, ‘OK what are the things that are going to put you in a position to give up a lead?’ Fouling, running over screens, turning the ball over, losing the ball, stepping out of bounds, passing into illegal screens … You just have to know, ‘I can’t do those things.’ ‘’
Which the Bulls went ahead and basically did all of in the loss to the Nuggets. It’s as if they wrote a list of everything that can go wrong with a double-digit lead, and then started checking off the boxes one by one.
That’s why they woke up in Detroit on Saturday morning, sitting at 18-22 and tied for the No.9 spot in the Eastern Conference seedings with Indiana.
It’s not like life is about to get easier, either. Sure, the Pistons should be very beatable on Sunday, but they come home to face the Jazz on Monday, the Cavs on Wednesday, and then have to deal with the anxiety of Thursday’s trade deadline.
After that comes a West Coast trip in which they play at San Antonio, Golden State, Phoenix and Utah, before coming home to face the Nets, and then back on the road at Indiana and Atlanta. To take all that on with an identity that involves folding in pressure situations against playoff-caliber teams?
Yeah, veteran Thad Young has a right to be concerned.
“I’ve been on several different teams where we’ve had stretches like this, or we’ve had young players where we make a lot of mistakes at the end of games,’’ Young said. “We just stayed the course, and we end up getting ourselves in a position to either fight for a playoff spot or be in the playoffs.
“With this situation here, it’s like in the fourth quarter we start to go in self-destruct mode. We got to figure out how to get out of self-destruct mode and make sure that we’re taking care of the basketball, making sure that we’re getting the right guys shots.’’
With this group, however, easier said than done.
