Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine can’t save the team vs. Blazers

Some of the woes in closing out games returned for second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls on the night of Nov. 17 against the Portland Trail Blazers. The star duo of shooting guard Zach LaVine and shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan couldn’t lift the Bulls out of a sizable fourth-quarter hole in the end. The Bulls would pretty much get dominated by the Blazers in the second half to take a loss by the final score of 112-107.

At one point in this game, the Bulls held a 15-point lead. That 15-point lead was the edge the Bulls held entering the locker room at halftime. But it didn’t take too long for the Bulls to squabble that second-half lead. The Blazers beat the Bulls by an 11-point margin in the third quarter, and a nine-point margin in the fourth.

It was a while since we last saw the Bulls struggle this much through and through in the second half. This was pretty surprising to see, especially considering the solid performances against the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers during a two-game winning streak. The Bulls looked really good heading into this game.

Nonetheless, the Bulls didn’t have anyone really heat up on the offensive end in the second half. LaVine did have a pretty good second half but missed some costly field goal attempts down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

It seemed like the Bulls couldn’t hit much of anything around the rim in the second half. The Bulls struggled with their play around the rim in general. Portland outrebounded the Bulls by a margin of eight.

Zach LaVine’s 30 points can’t get the Chicago Bulls the win over the Blazers

The lesson learned here should be the fact that the Bulls aren’t going to be able to rely solely on the scoring efforts of LaVine and DeRozan in clutch time game in and game out. LaVine had a solid night, but DeRozan really cooled off.

LaVine registered a game-high 30 points, along with six rebounds, two assists, no steals, one block, and four turnovers. And he shot 11-of-20 from the field, an impressive 7-of-12 from beyond the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, DeRozan had his worst outing in a while, posting a box plus/minus of -4.3 and a true shooting percentage of .488 on the night.

This highlights the need for the Bulls to find other sources of offense down the stretch when LaVine and/or DeRozan are going cold. The defense also needs to step up when the team holds a double-digit lead heading into the second half. The Bulls gave up just 48 points in the first half compared to 64 in the second.

All in all, it’s always tough to see the Bulls struggle mightily to close out games. Not every game is going to be perfect, but this was definitely a lead that LaVine and the Bulls should’ve closed out to beat the Blazers.

Following this narrow loss to the Blazers on the road on Nov. 17, the Bulls are now sporting a record of 10-5. Next up for LaVine and the Bulls during this Western Conference road trip is a meeting with the Denver Nuggets on Nov. 19.