Coach Billy Donovan was hoping for an “Iron Mike’’ attitude.
Heck, at this point, he’ll settle for brass.
Just something different from the soft roster he has been coaching.
The Mike Tyson attitude eventually showed up Saturday, but even in the Bulls’ 102-97 victory against the Heat, there were still looming issues.
Following a familiar script, the Bulls (5-9) showed zero urgency and fell behind 22-1 in less than seven minutes. To make matters worse, they didn’t score their first field goal until the 4:49 mark of the first quarter — a Zach LaVine basket.
They scored only 33 points in back-to-back first halves against the Magic.
An explanation? Anyone?
“If we had the answer, we’d fix it right away,’’ forward DeMar DeRozan said. “Playing with a sense of urgency, playing like we want to win. Not easing into it. First half, first quarter, it’s like we’re easing into it. Thinking too much, and then it kind of steamrolls.’’
Donovan agreed with at least one of DeRozan’s points. If he knew how to fix it, it would have been fixed.
“What I see is a feeling-out process of the game, however you want to say that,’’ Donovan said. “Either you’re going to come out in the ring like Mike Tyson or you’re going to come out just kind of bobbing and weaving. We have to come out [the Tyson] way, and we have to be able to sustain it. It’s not like we never do it, but we have to find a way internally to draw it out of ourselves.’’
Donovan has talked to the players about it ad nauseam and has shown them film of what it looks like when they play with urgency compared to when they don’t, and he continues to tinker with the lineup and rotations to try to ignite something.
That continued against the Heat until there was finally a sign of life.
Right out of the gate, the Bulls were down 7-1 after a Bam Adebayo alley-oop slam from Kyle Lowry. Five straight points from Duncan Robinson, then a Jimmy Butler step-back, and just like that it was 16-1. LaVine finally stopped the bleeding, but the Bulls were again forced to put all their energy into climbing out of a huge hole.
That’s no way to live in the NBA.
“I don’t know if I’m frustrated with it,’’ Donovan said of trying to get the Bulls to play aggressively right from the tip. “I’m more of the mindset of: How can I help them do that? It’s obviously got to come from them, I get that. And it shouldn’t be the scoreboard. I really believe that when you’re playing the game, the possession in front of you should be dictating that spirit, energy, urgency we need to have.’’
To the Bulls’ credit, they do seem to notice the scoreboard at some point and flip a switch that it’s go time. They outscored the Heat in the second and third quarters, then cut the deficit to three in the fourth on a LaVine three, then to one on a DeRozan basket with just over three minutes left.
The comeback was complete when Alex Caruso nailed yet another clutch three, giving the Bulls the lead with 51.8 seconds left.
Butler had an answer with a clutch three to tie the score, but DeRozan did what he does best, hitting an 18-foot midrange dagger. That shot stood up when Butler missed a three-pointer with 12 seconds left.
“I give our guys credit for competing and getting back into the game,’’ Donovan said. “You just can’t start the games like that. It’s a hard way to live doing that.’’
And something else put a damper on the victory. LaVine was caught angrily pulling away from public-relations director Beth Esler when asked to do the postgame interview with NBC Sports Chicago.
He said it was a “miscommunication,’’ but the team was informed of the incident and wasn’t happy about it.
