DETROIT — The Bulls owe Pistons rookie Jaden Ivey a thank-you card.
Just when it looked like the Bulls were looking at back-to-back losses and their sixth blown lead of 16 points or more, Ivey threw them a lifeline. On an inbounds play with 9.1 seconds to go, Ivey called a timeout that his team didn’t have. He was assessed a technical foul, sending Zach LaVine to the free-throw line. The mental error allowed the Bulls to escape with a 117-115 win Wednesday.
“I haven’t been part of a game that that’s happened,” Billy Donovan said.
The Bulls jumped out to a 15-point first-quarter lead. By the start of the second, that lead was down to just two points. In the third quarter, they pushed their lead to 21.
Donovan has talked all year long about his team’s issues with consistency. That and their inability to overcome challenges in games resulting in avoidable losses. Look no further than the loss Tuesday to the Raptors. The Bulls committed 21 turnovers and were outrebounded 47-35.
Wednesday night the Bulls had the ball and a two-point lead with 28 seconds to play. But DeMar DeRozan missed a midrange jumper and the Pistons’ Bojan Bogdanovic grabbed the board. The Pistons then called timeout to set up their final shot trailing 114-112, setting up Ivey’s colossal blunder.
LaVine finished with a game-high 41 points, two shy of his season-high 43 which came against the Pistons in December. DeRozan added 21 and Patrick Beverley had a double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists to go with his four steals and five points.
Beverley expressed his displeasure with the team’s 20 turnovers in the loss to the Raptors. Against the Pistons, the Bulls committed just four turnovers in the first half but the total ballooned to 15 by the end.
“We come out [of the half] very carefree, very relaxed,” Donovan said. “We got the lead back up to 20 but didn’t close the third quarter the correct way or start the fourth the correct way. You saw what happened, they’re playing with energy and they’re overwhelming us. We had our foot on the gas in the first half.”
The Bulls played what Beverley called their best half of basketball all season, although he only has been with the team for a week. He was right though.
They had 20 assists on 69 points and shot 56% from the field and 47.1% from three-point range. They finished with 27 assists as a team and scored just 16 points in the fourth quarter.
“It does become draining,” DeRozan said of his team’s consistent second-half struggles. “We have to be locked in and show a sense of urgency coming out of halftime especially when we have a lead. [We have to] understand teams aren’t just going to lay down and let us win. They’re going to come out swinging as well. That’s on us.”
When Beverley joined the team last week, he had a request of his veteran teammates: Shoot more. In his eyes, if DeRozan and LaVine are launching at least 20 attempts a game the Bulls can be a competitive playoff team. LaVine shot 14-for-20 from the field and DeRozan shot 7-for-16.
“Bev wants me to shoot everything and I love it,” LaVine said.
Wednesday’s victory puts the Bulls one game behind the Wizards for the last spot in the play-in tournament.
