No regrets from coach Jim Boylen as Bulls bounce back

ATLANTA — Jim Boylen was still taking full responsibility for the Meltdown on Madison 24 hours earlier.

But apologize for it? You’ve got the wrong coach.

“No,’’ Boylen said when asked if he regretted the way he coached the fourth quarter in the Bulls’ embarrassing loss to the Lakers on Tuesday at the United Center. “We had 26 points on our mistakes, missed box-outs, a missed free-throw box-out. We fouled the shooter for six points, no. All learning stuff that we will learn.’’

That led to the obvious question the Bulls are facing in the early part of the season: Are they developing as the second-youngest team in the league or are they focused on winning? That question has higher stakes attached to it because management said reaching the playoffs was the goal on media day.

So which is it, developing or winning? The 113-93 victory against the Hawks on Wednesday was nice, but it’s hard to do both.

“That’s the [situation] we’re in,’’ Boylen said. “You have a 24-year-old team [the Bulls’ average age]. We have a goal to play winning basketball and fight for the playoffs; that’s our goal to start the season. I was not going to start the season by saying, ‘I hope we have a good team.’ That’s not how I operate; that’s not what I believe in. That’s not what’s good for this group.’’

Boylen had the heat turned up on him in the court of public opinion for several reasons after that Lakers loss. He was being ripped for sticking with bench players who were completely outplayed during the Lakers’ comeback.

His rationale was it would help their development. A day later, he was sticking to that defense.

“I don’t think anybody thinks that I don’t have to develop a 24-year-old team, either,’’ Boylen said. “We have to do both, try to do both. Nobody said a word about trusting the bench in the first half when they made their run and did a good job, so I gave them a little rope in the second half. It’s a learning moment, and we’re going to move on. If I can shoulder the blame for that, I’ll gladly take it.’’

Who would’ve guessed that a trip to Atlanta would be the perfect tonic?

The bench was solid, the defense played a full 48 minutes and there were no 16-0 runs without a timeout to be seen. No wonder the players were all smiles in the locker room. Or was it just a sense of relief?

“They were hurting from the way the game ended [Tuesday] night, but I think they held on to the things that we did well,’’ Boylen said. “I’m just really proud of them.’’

He was especially proud of his starting point guard.

Tomas Satoransky had his best game as a Bull, scoring 27 points and handing out eight assists, but his defense on the Hawks’ Trae Young was the key to a win that improved the Bulls’ record to 3-6.

When Satoransky wasn’t playing Young physically, he usually had a big man helping to blitz him on every pick-and-roll.

The goal was to make Young uncomfortable, and the Bulls succeeded. He had only nine points and three assists, went 0-for-8 from three-point range and committed four turnovers.

“Just tried to make things complicated for [Young],’’ Satoransky said. “Not give him open looks, and I think our bigs did a great job, as well, beating up the screen. We didn’t let him have an easy start against us.

“We were all frustrated with the way the [Lakers] game went. Hopefully, this can be a turnaround game for us.’’