Bulls lock down play-in spot with bounce-back victory against Raptors
After being embarrassed 24 hours earlier in Oklahoma City, the Bulls turned the tables with a dominant 137-118 victory against the Raptors.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan was working from an unknown.
He insisted that his players had shown resilience since the All-Star break and that there had been no letup in practice and game-day habits.
Then again, it had been quite some time since the Bulls were physically and mentally dismantled the way they were in a one-sided loss Monday to the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
So Donovan wanted to know what the response would be.
It was what he hoped.
Thanks to their 137-118 victory Tuesday against the Raptors, the Bulls not only secured a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament but pulled to a half-game of the idle Heat for the No. 9 seed.
It was an impressive victory, but it’s one that also came with a warning from Donovan.
The Bulls (34-42) have six regular-season games left, including two against Eastern Conference teams fighting for something. The losses to the Mavericks on Saturday and Thunder on Monday were wake-up calls for the urgency Donovan expects.
‘‘For us, we’ve been so good in transition and playing fast that our guys have to realize that teams are going to adjust or make that an incredibly high level of emphasis,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘The next iteration for us is that, yeah, on the [4-2] West Coast [trip], we were going downhill, getting to the rim, getting to the basket. You saw Coby [White] getting fouled, Josh Giddey getting fouled. Teams are watching that. They’re not going to continue to let those guys do that night after night after night.
‘‘Now we’ve got to adjust: ‘That’s not there now. Now what’s open, what’s available?’ ’’
It wasn’t only the film that showed Donovan, the numbers did, too. That’s why he pointed out the Bulls’ 39 combined turnovers in the losses to the Mavs and Thunder.
‘‘Transition has been a huge strength,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘The game against Denver, I think we scored 31 [fast-break] points against them in their place [March 24]. Teams are looking at that: ‘Gotta get back, build a wall, show your hands, put your hands up. Coby White’s taken seven free throws, Giddey is getting seven, eight, nine free throws.’ Now we can’t keep just barreling into people when guys are showing hands and we’re not getting calls. We’ve got to adjust.’’
They didn’t have to adjust much against the Raptors (28-48), who seemingly have been more focused on positioning themselves for a high draft pick than on making a late-season push for the play-in tournament. The loss to the Bulls eliminated them.
‘‘We want to make a run and get into the playoffs, but we’re going to take it one game at a time,’’ White said. ‘‘We clinched a spot, but we want to make a run to the playoffs.’’
White has been a big reason why, not only winning Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March but tipping off April the right way with 28 points and six assists against the Raptors. Talen Horton-Tucker came off the bench to add a season-high 27.
It was a much better showing than the tail-kicking the Bulls endured 24 hours earlier.
‘‘We got back to being who we are,’’ White said. ‘‘Sharing the ball, getting it side-to-side, and everyone was getting the love.
‘‘Obviously, we got embarrassed [in Oklahoma City], and we took it to heart. We wanted to bounce back. We had attention to detail, and we were very locked in to the game plan, control the controllables.
‘‘[Monday] didn’t go the way we wanted it to, and it was very embarrassing to this organization.’’
