The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of a three-game losing streak, with their latest loss coming against the Atlanta Hawks, after losing 110-94.
Sitting tenth in the Eastern Conference standings at 18-23, having rumors swirl that both of their stars maybe traded at next month’s trade deadline, the Bulls are slowly slipping out of playoff contention.
Head Coach Billy Donovan is none too pleased with how the Bulls have been playing, and he made his feelings known.
Are the Bulls playing down to their competition?
In the past three games, the Bulls have played three teams that could’ve helped catapult them up in the standings, especially with playing one of the worst teams in the NBA, the New Orleans Pelicans. With how hot both Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic have been lately offensively, this three-game losing streak should’ve been a three-game winning streak.
Head Coach Billy Donovan expressed his frustration with how he feels the Bulls have been playing and that he feels they aren’t living up to their full potential. Speaking quite candidly, Donavon made his point clear with saying:
“We’re good enough to do that against anybody. So, I don’t even look at it as playing up or playing down. If we don’t play to our potential, it really doesn’t make a difference who’s out there,” Donovan said before Wednesday’s game, per Scotty White of Clutch Points.
“We have to play to what we’ve tried to establish as our identity for most of the year, and for the most part, we’ve done a pretty good job. But certainly, the things that have hurt us at times have been the rebounding, which was a factor yesterday, and then also the turnovers. That was a problem as well. But we’ve got to be able to do better [with] some of the things that we have control over.”
With getting outplayed and being sloppy with the basketball, with having a total of 42 turnovers in that three-game span, it appears the Bulls aren’t living up to their potential as Donavon says. The Bulls were also neck and neck in in the rebounding department, grabbing 155 rebounds to their opponents combined 150 during that three-game span.
Can the Chicago Bulls turn it around?
The answer to that question remains to be seen with the Bulls set to face the 9-28 Charlotte Hornets, with the Bulls having a win probability of 63%. As for the season, that ultimately will come down to if the Bulls end up trading both LaVine and Vucevic. Both have been speculated to be traded before next month’s trade dealing, with LaVine appearing to be a tougher piece to move given his contract.
If the Bulls can minimize the turnovers and get better on the offensive and defensive classes, they can have success. The Bulls will also need LaVine to get back to his scoring ways in order for them to have success with only scoring 15 points in the loss against the Hawks.
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