There was a time the Bulls were all about No. 8. It was feast or famine with guard Zach LaVine, but on the nights he was cooking, it was quite special.
That changed when veteran forward DeMar DeRozan arrived last season, and further proof of whose team the Bulls really are presented itself again Friday.
With DeRozan sidelined for a second consecutive game with a strained right quadriceps — he also left the game before that in the third quarter — the Bulls (19-24) lost their game in a row, this time 124-110 to the Thunder at the United Center.
In other words, DeRozan can’t get back quickly enough.
‘‘He’s definitely showing progress,’’ coach Billy Donovan said of DeRozan. ‘‘The biggest thing is not having him get a setback where he comes back and plays and he reaggravates it. We’re waiting a little bit longer. We don’t feel like it’s anything serious. Definitely each day it has gotten better. We’re probably going to always be cautious when guys are feeling like that.’’
Not having DeRozan was one issue. But another was LaVine, who by all accounts is completely healthy.
When LaVine got a five-year, $215 million max contract last summer, it brought with it max responsibility. Shooting 5-for-19 from the field and 1-for-8 from three-point range doesn’t cut it, even though he was 14-for-15 from the line.
‘‘Even with [DeRozan], we’ve still got a lot to clean up offensively [and] defensively,’’ LaVine said afterward. ‘‘We lost to this team in Oklahoma City [earlier this year]. It’s tough having a man down, and no one is going to feel sorry for us. Hopefully we can get whole, but even when we’re whole our record isn’t great. We have to do better as a unit.’’
The signs it wasn’t going to be an easy night were there early on.
Donovan continually preaches to his players to stop fouling and to be better at closing out on three-pointers. So how did the Bulls respond off the opening tip? Ayo Dosunmu fouled Lu Dort three seconds into the game for two free throws. Thirty seconds later, the Thunder’s Mike Muscala made an open three-pointer.
That was just the start of the comedy of errors by the Bulls on both ends of the floor. It was also the reason they allowed a season-high 72 points in the first half, topping even the disastrous game against the Timberwolves in which the Bulls gave up 71 in the first half and 150 for the game.
‘‘The way we started was disappointing,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘We do things that break momentum, self-inflicted wounds. We get back into the game, then the turnovers. We knew going in they were a hard-driving team, and we were beaten so much off the dribble.’’
As far as what LaVine brought to the first half, it wasn’t much. He was a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line and scored 14 points, but he shot 2-for-10 from the field and 1-for-6 from three-point range and was a minus-12 in the first 24 minutes.
Thankfully for the Bulls, whatever Donovan said in the locker room seemed to work. They closed what had been an 18-point deficit to one to start the fourth quarter.
But the Bulls just can’t seem to help themselves, especially when it comes to key moments in winning a game. After grabbing all that momentum in the third quarter, they were outscored 13-4 to start the fourth and never closed the gap the rest of the night.
