Bulls morale at zero

Seeing that the Bulls defense was not repositioned, Fred VanVleet was quick to attack Patrick Williams in transition with his left hand. The Rockets point guard missed the target, but as no Chicago player blocked the rebound, Jalen Green came from nowhere to finish easily.

A few seconds later, the same VanVleet overtook Coby White this time, still on the left hand, and finished at the circle. Thus ended a first half in favor of the visitors, with a 16-point lead (52-68).

What followed was not going to be much more favorable to the locals. After going to the locker room, they conceded an 11-0 (52-79) with the impression that the Texan attack could do almost anything it wanted. Particularly in the opposing racket.

“ If we don't fight, we're going to get our ass kicked like tonight. The Rockets did what they had to do and we let them do it. We have to be much tougher collectively “, demands Zach LaVinehis team's top scorer with just 15 points.

A lack of effort

This defensive toughness was not really visible in this game. After conceding 41 points in the second quarter, the Bulls took 40 in the next. With at the finish, 143 points conceded. Or only… one less than during their previous defeat against the Cavs (126-144) two days earlier.

“ We have to do something. Receiving more than 140 points in two back-to-back matches is unacceptable. It's embarrassing. This harms the franchise, the supporters “, Judge Coby White for whom this problem is more linked to the efforts made than to the system in place.

At the heart of the subject, there is therefore internal defense. Last night, they conceded 80 points from the Rockets in their racket (compared to 40 scored). After the meeting, Billy Donovan logically demands a “ certain level of resistance » to display near the circle.

“ We are not a team that blocks a lot of shots (editor’s note: 4.3 blocks per match, 26th in the league). We must put ourselves in opposition. As soon as the ball got underneath, there was no one there to try to cause an offensive foul “, he regrets.

The worst defense in the racket

With nearly 60 points conceded in the paint each evening, the Bulls are the worst team in the league in this register. And more broadly, in terms of “Defensive Rating”, the Chicago team plunges in the ranking (25th with 117 points conceded out of 100 possessions).

“ I clearly felt from the bench that, and you probably have the same opinion on this, because we had difficulty getting shots in after a while, it wore us down. This is one of those matches where you have to find other ways to try to win. Because we clearly generated good shots », positive Billy Donovan.

His team actually shot 56 times from behind the arc – a franchise record – but only converted 25% of these shots and finished with 33% overall success. Difficult, when the defense does not follow, to compete in these cases.