The Bulls haven’t been able to string together two consecutive wins, and they didn’t come close in a 23-point loss to the Trail Blazers Monday.
The team isn’t taking it well, according to Wendell Carter Jr.
“The fact that everybody’s disappointed is something I like,” said Carter, who had 12 points and nine rebounds in the Bulls’ 117-94 loss. “Nobody’s walking around here happy, smiling. Like, everybody’s mad that we’re losing. I feel like that shows that we all care.”
“Now we just got to turn it into positivity going into next few games, try to get us some wins and get our swag back.”
. Here are three observations about Monday night’s game.
1. Wendell Carter Jr. needs to avoid being a foul magnet.
Wendell Carter picked up five fouls in the win against the Hornets, so his foul struggles were already on the Bulls’ minds the morning of their game against the Trail Blazers.
“I think sometimes maybe a whistle doesn’t go your way, but also he’s got to take control of your hands,” coach Jim Boylen said at Monday’s shoot-around. “He’s a competitive guy, he doesn’t want anybody to score on him. He reminds me of Mario Elie. Mario Elie was like that. Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) was like that. If you scored on Dream it made him mad, and Wendell does not like people to score on him.
“In those moments he’s got to be smarter. He knows it, we talk about it.”
One of those moments came in the first quarter when the Bulls were running a break, Tomas Satoransky dished a pocket pass to Carter as the Blazers’ Rodney Hood set his feet in front of him. Carter was called for an offensive foul and Boylen took a timeout and challenged the ruling —– just two minutes into the game.
The call was overturned and Carter made two free throws. Boylen said the referees in Charlotte later acknowledged that one of Carter’s five fouls was a bad call.
Both situations in the past two games illustrate how the Bulls can ill afford to see their top rebounder (9.8 per game) and one of their best defenders in early foul trouble.
Carter is averaging 4.1 fouls per game this season, tied with Sacramento’s Richaun Holmes and the Lakers’ Dwight Howard for the second most among centers.
Last season averaged 3.5 fouls, though he played about three fewer minutes per game.
Carter said before the game that he goes over to referees during halftime to build a relationship with them.
“Every time I pick up my early fouls, I always try to ask them what exactly am I doing wrong,” he said. “It’s either my body’s out of position or my hands are down, stuff like that. It’s just a concentration thing with me.”
2. There’s no place like … the road?
The Bulls now head off on a three-game West Coast swing, which takes them to Golden State on Wednesday, followed by Friday’s game in Portland and finishing in Sacramento on Monday.
They’ve actually been better on the road (.375) than at the United Center (.300).
“It’s good to get away. It’s been tough at home, to be real about it,” Zach LaVine said, adding that it might help the team get back on track.
Wendell Carter jr. agreed, “We’re pretty good on the road. That will give us a chance to get our swag back.
“We’re pretty good at going into other people’s spots and stealing a win.”
For what it’s worth, five of the teams the Bulls have faced at home have top-five records in their respective conferences.
“It’s tough,” LaVine said. “We’re not showing up and defending home court. Eventually the fans get mad you, you can start feeling it switch over a little bit.”
3. The Trail Blazers stopped Zach LaVine and company by making them play a half-court game.
“First half and second half, they were doubling me off all pick-and-rolls,” Zach LaVine said. “We played against a good half-court defensive team. We need to get in transition more.”
Before the game, Jim Boylen called LaVine a “pure catch-and-shoot guy,” and the numbers back him up. He has made 40.4% of 52 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts, according to NBA statistics.
But catch-and-shoots — and pull-up jumpers — work better off the fast break than in the half court because defenses can’t set themselves as well.
“You gotta get stops first, though, because you keep taking it out (of bounds), it’s not going to be fun,” LaVine said. “Every time we tried to get out on a run it seemed like we were taking the ball out.”
Here’s the coverage from Monday’s game:
The Bulls decided they were going to live or die by the 3-pointer Monday night — and the corner 3 in particular — and they died by it, making just 9 of 39 (23.1%) in a 117-94 loss to the Trail Blazers at the United Center.
“I thought we were trying I just felt like it was one of those nights where the ball didn’t go in for us,” coach Jim Boylen said. “And we didn’t respond very well to it. So that’s where we’ve got to grow.”
Zach LaVine, who led the Bulls with 18 points, Ryan Arcidiacono and Tomas Satoransky each went 1-for-5 from 3-point range.
Kris Dunn missed all five of his attempts from long range, Shaquille Harrison missed his two tries and Coby White made just 1 of 7. Even Wendell Carter Jr. took a chance from the top of the arc — and missed.
“Kris works on that; those were wide-open 3s,” Boylen said. “I thought we had a bunch of them. … We had 18 (3-point attempts) in a row and my staff told me 15 of them were open 3s. I don’t know, we’ll have to look at the film.
“Fifteen of 18 open 3s in the second half — they make theirs and we don’t make ours.”
It was the kind of night when even some dunks weren’t falling, with Satoransky and LaVine missing what looked like sure rim-rockers.
If the Bulls’ troubles on the offensive end weren’t enough, Carmelo Anthony exploited Lauri Markkanen’s and Thad Young’s inability to guard him, leading all scorers with 25 points and hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Anthony briefly became a Bull when the Rockets traded him for luxury-tax purposes, and the Bulls, who never planned to play him, waived him in February. Anthony had been searching for a team until the Blazers signed him Nov. 19.
LaVine said he wasn’t surprised by Anthony’s performance, the 509th 25-point game of the 35-year-old’s career.
?I mean, I was always advocating for him to be in the NBA,” LaVine said. “He might not be the old Melo, but he still pretty damn good. He’s better than a lot of people in the NBA and he’s still getting it done.”
With 9 minutes, 31 seconds left, the Blazers whipped ball around to Anthony, who lofted a 3 over Markkanen’s oustretched hand to stake the Blazers to a 100-77 lead.
The Bulls also were obliterated on the boards, 55-37, as they fell to 3-7 at home.
Chandler Hutchison returned to action after missing three games with sore shins. He scored six points and had three rebounds in about eight minutes.
Denzel Valentine played nearly 16 minutes, scoring 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
Valentine called his inconsistent usage “tough.”
“We’re professional basketball players so sometimes you may not know if you’re going to get in. … You’ve got to be ready when your number is called,” Valentine said. “That’s what I tried to do today, and that’s my mindset for the rest of the year.”