NEW YORK – Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen have maintained the same mentality through the offseason and into the early part of the regular season.
Pressure will be welcomed with open arms and embraced by both.
It better be because it’s not going away anytime soon.
Coach Jim Boylen and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson each insisted last month that the team was built with a supporting cast to lift Markkanen and LaVine to stardom, and those two would have to run with that.
Then on Monday, Boylen again reiterated that Markkanen and LaVine had a talking to about their defense, and needed to pick up that aspect of their game if the team wants to succeed.
“What I talked to them about was getting us to defend at a higher level more consistently, and it’s got to start with them,’’ Boylen said. “They’ve been great, they’ve both been committed to doing that, but we need to defend better, and we need to be more tied together on the defensive end of the floor. And that’s where we need to grow. We’ve got a bunch of growth plates, and that’s one of them.’’
According to LaVine, that message about defense was heard loud and clear, and it’s a weight on the shoulder that he and Markkanen have no problem piling on.
“You got to understand pressure,’’ LaVine said. “You have to understand it to have something good from it. You can say you don’t feel it, but it has to be something in the back of your head where it gets you going, so obviously there’s pressure and we embrace it.
“We understand the team that we have. We just need to get it clicking.’’
Same old “B.P.’’
Of course Bobby Portis ran down the floor talking smack to the Bulls bench after scoring his first basket of the game. The Bulls wouldn’t have expected any different from the player they called “B.P.’’ back when he was a teammate.
“Yeah, we were thankful for his competitive spirit when we had him, and now that we don’t we have to respect it still,’’ Boylen said of Portis. “That’s what we love about him. He’s one of my favorite guys I ever coached and been around. He’s a yes-sir, no-sir guy, he’s a winner, he’s a worker, so I think the Knicks are fortunate to have them.’’
Portis was drafted by the Bulls 22nd overall in the 2015 NBA Draft, and the Arkansas product quickly endeared himself to the roster, with Joakim Noah first nicknaming him “Crazy Eyes,’’ before settling on “B.P.’’
The forward/center was traded last February to Washington – along with Jabari Parker – with the Bulls getting Otto Porter in return. He signed a two-year, $31-million free-agent contract with the Knicks this offseason, and was currently coming off their bench.
Makes and misses
Forward Chandler Hutchison (left hamstring) stayed back in Chicago and practiced with the G-League team. If all goes well for Hutchison the next few days, he could be made active for the game with Detroit on Friday. … Boylen has been going back and forth with having shootarounds on game days, and admitted it’s been reward based. Good practices and games earn having morning shootarounds off, instead doing walk-throughs. … Porter indicated that he was still a bit sore after taking an elbow in the mouth on Saturday, getting six stitches as a result. He did start against New York, however.
