Zach LaVine wanted to do it all Thursday night in New Orleans, but even the Chicago Bulls guard has his limitations.
LaVine has done it before, game after game, in his five seasons in Chicago. So when DeMar DeRozan was ruled out Thursday against the Pelicans with an adductor strain, it seemed inevitable that LaVine would try to fill the hole left by the Bulls’ leading scorer.
LaVine sank a trio of 3-pointers in the opening quarter. By the end of the first half, he had scored 23 points. In the third quarter, he plucked a ball out of the hands of Jose Alvarado in the paint, then crushed a brutal dunk on the opposite end of the court to tie the score and notch his 16th 30-point game of the season.
LaVine finished with a season-high 39 points. And he had help off the bench — Coby White scored 23 points on 5-for-8 shooting from 3-point range.
It still wasn’t enough. After the teams traded the the lead 17 times, the Pelicans pulled ahead with a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter and never looked back. The Bulls dropped their fifth straight road game and 10th of 13 overall with the 126-109 loss.
“The record certainly says we have not been good on the road,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I don’t know necessarily what would be the reasons for that, but clearly that’s what the record is.”
The game ended in chaotic frustration for the Bulls. White fouled out, Ayo Dosunmu picked up a flagrant foul with 21.2 seconds left, then Tristan Thompson got tossed for arguing with a referee.
The Bulls kept it close through three quarters. Nikola Vučević scored 16 points and sustained consistent 3-point shooting. After a nonexistent night in Milwaukee on Tuesday, the bench combined for 34 points despite Dosunmu temporarily moving back into the starting lineup.
But the bad outweighed the good for the Bulls. After a standout stint as starting point guard, Dosunmu continued to fade, managing only four points and five assists. Despite shooting 10-for-18 from behind the arc in the first half, the Bulls made only four more 3-pointers in the second half to finish 14-for-34 from long range.
The thorn in the Bulls’ side remained — a slip in defensive intensity. The Bulls gave up 12 second-chance points and 16 points in transition, then gifted the Pelicans an additional 32 points at the free-throw line.
“We’ve got to start getting back to our brand of basketball,” LaVine said. “We can’t give up 122 points. Hats off to the Pelicans, but we can’t do that if we we’re a playoff team.”
The Bulls have tumbled in the standings, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors by only one game as they cling to the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. Saturday’s trip to face the Cavaliers looms large with the Bulls holding a 16-21 road record.
LaVine carried the bulk of the offense despite a lingering left knee injury, which has forced him to rotate in and out of the lineup since the All-Star break. But the Bulls have proved throughout this the season they can’t rely on one star — even on a 39-point night.
“Nobody’s going to help us,” LaVine said. “We’ve done enough talking. We’ve done enough pep talks and rallies. You got to get it done now. It’s time to stop talking and get it done and start playing the right way and win these games.”
