Chicago Bulls: Another embarrassing collapse signals need for change

While it is still clear that first-year head coach Billy Donovan has turned the Chicago Bulls around to a decent degree already, their loss at home at the United Center in an embarrassing second half collapse exposed some old wounds that are still lingering around at times. The Bulls fell short to legendary head coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs at home on the night of March 17, where they held an enormous first half lead at multiple points of the game.

On a night that proved just how far the Bulls look like they still have to go at times, they just weren’t able to avoid a massive second half collapse against the Spurs. Those aforementioned multiple points of the first half where the Bulls held a huge lead were by a whopping 23 points.

The fact that the Bulls still can’t hold a Spurs team that had an off night shooting from the field that was down by more than 20 points for a good portion of the first half signals more change is needed with this team. The Bulls did look good at the outset, but that excitement and confidence for the fans quickly faded to concern in the final 24.

While this was the back end of a back-to-back for the Bulls at home, it didn’t look like fatigue was the issue. Unforced errors continue to plague this young team, and the Bulls turned it over on more than five key possessions in the final seven minutes. The team also went cold shooting from the field in the dying minutes of the game.

How it all went wrong for the Chicago Bulls against the Spurs

On a night of mixed results for teams from the Central Division around the NBA landscape, the Bulls joined the struggling Indiana Pacers as teams that had a massive second half collapse. The Bulls lost the third quarter by just five points.

So it was the fourth quarter that really doomed them. The Bulls lost the fourth quarter by a sizable margin of 20 points. The Bulls also mustered just 41 points in the second half. Any offensive momentum they built up in the first 24 faded in the second half completely.

Star shooting guard Zach LaVine did have a mostly efficient night for the Bulls. He had a game-high 29 points, six rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block. And LaVine shot 12-of-21 from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-3 from the free-throw line.

It was largely the Bulls frontcourt rotation that wasn’t able to do much against the productive Spurs center Jakob Poeltl. On this night, Poeltl registered a game-high 16 rebounds and a team-high 20 points. His number of rebounds was three more than third-year center Wendell Carter Jr. and fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen had combined (they had 13 total in this game).

Even veteran forward Thaddeus Young and Markkanen weren’t able to combine the match the number of rebounds that Poeltl had. You have to turn to rookie forward Patrick Williams, who had a team-high 14 boards, to get to the production on the glass for this team.

Moreover, Young had a rare off night in terms of facilitating this offense. He turned the ball over a game-high six times, most of which came in the second half. And he registered 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals, and one block to go along with those six turnovers.

The Bulls bench was also very much lacking against the Spurs. There was only one Bulls bench player that scored in double figures, which came by way of 10 points from WCJ.

The Spurs pretty much solely won this game by getting to the free-throw line 21 more times than the Bulls are turning the ball over eight less times. That was smart and efficient basketball by a coach known for doing those sorts of things in Popovich.

The Bulls move their record on the season now to 18-21 following this really tough loss to the Spurs. The loss snapped their two-game winning streak and restored some of the concerns and calls for change from the fans just ahead of the looming March 25 trade deadline.