HOUSTON — Coach Billy Donovan wasn’t about to let his players underestimate the importance of this two-game road trip.
That’s why the Bulls coach did something he never does: He posted the standings on the bulletin board in the locker room for the start of the trip.
“They know exactly where we stand, what’s going on,’’ Donovan said Saturday. “I’ve said we can’t be a group of guys that are sitting there looking at the scoreboard all the time, wanting help from someone else when we’re not taking care of the things that we’ve got to take care of.’’
That’s what this two-city journey was about, taking care of what they needed to take care of.
First, it was running the top team in the Western Conference off its own floor Wednesday in Denver, and then it was guarding against complacency Saturday against the worst team in the West.
Of course, the Bulls made sure that the second obstacle was more difficult, almost becoming the first team this season that the lowly Rockets swept, but that all changed in the final few minutes.
With 4:39 left in the game, the Bulls (31-36) finally climbed back into a tie after trailing most of the night, thanks to two DeMar DeRozan free throws.
If you blinked after that, you missed the barrage.
An Alex Caruso steal led to a Zach LaVine basket, a missed shot led to a nasty LaVine dunk from DeRozan, another Caruso steal was cashed in by Caruso himself, and then a Patrick Beverley three. Just like that, a nail-biting tie was a 115-106 Bulls lead in a matter of just over two minutes.
And in pulling off the eventual 119-111 victory, the Bulls also changed what those standings hanging on the board look like.
Thanks to the Wizards losing again on Friday, the Bulls are now back in the No. 10 spot in the Eastern Conference, holding down the final spot of the play-in tournament.
A big accomplishment?
Considering all the stumbles this season, the Bulls will take what they can get. Especially in how they played the first three quarters, doing everything that Donovan warned them not to do against the inexperienced but athletic Rockets (15-52).
“It’s something we should have done a handful of times this season with teams of that caliber,’’ Caruso said of the finish. “We just haven’t gotten that done enough. I think it was just a collective focus to help each other, whether it was on offense of making the extra pass, guys getting to their spot, or on defense just being in the gaps. That’s kind of how we sealed it the last three or four minutes.’’
That also played a role in forcing 16 Houston turnovers, which turned into 23 points.
The Caruso, Beverley, LaVine, DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic closing lineup was effective again, but it wasn’t time to celebrate just yet. Not by a long shot as far as Caruso was concerned.
“We’ve got work to do,’’ Caruso said. “We talked about this game like it was a trap game . . . there’s no trap game. We’re not good enough to have trap games. We haven’t played well enough to get trapped. Every game for us is go 1-0.
“Show up every day, do your job, and get on to the next one.’’
Which is what Donovan wants.
LaVine led the Bulls with 36 points, and Beverley had 10 rebounds from his guard spot.
“We didn’t get discouraged,’’ Donovan said. “We kept staying with it, we stayed the course. I felt like there was some resolve there.’’
