The Bulls remain a contradiction.
They’re a frustrating, hard to figure out from game to game, inconsistent contradiction.
They have beaten the likes of Boston, Milwaukee and Miami multiple times this season, only to lose to Houston and Orlando and give up a 21-point lead to Indiana.
Zach LaVine says he currently is playing with a “messed-up’’ finger on his right hand, but in the same sentence says if he’s “out there, I’m healthy.’’
The Bulls need to acquire a player such as veteran forward Jae Crowder by the Feb. 9 trade deadline but in all likelihood will stay the path while teams such as the Bucks and Heat push to land the hard-nosed veteran.
Is it all fixable by the time a possible playoff run starts?
Not really, especially when there are a number of layers to the issues surrounding this roster.
“It’s not one player or one thing,’’ coach Billy Donovan said Tuesday after the loss to the Pacers. “It’s a multitude of things where we look overwhelmed when the intensity level goes this way. And we have to respond better to that.
“We have a high-character group. They’re good guys, relationships are good. But we have to be able to fight to overcome some of this stuff.’’
If the Bulls were still 25 games into the season, Donovan’s point would resonate. But the air continues leaking out of the balloon, as evident in Game No. 47 against Indiana.
This is the portion of the regular season when you are what you are and the resume is what it is. Unfortunately for the Bulls, that resume has some questionable moments that will inevitably come back to haunt them.
Whether it forces them to have to go the play-in route in April or face at least a road team in the opening round of the playoffs, this roster has made their bed and may be headed for some uncomfortable nights of sleep.
Here are the Bulls’ five worst losses of the season:
5. Oct. 28 at Spurs
They were lost in the hoopla surrounding DeMar DeRozan reaching the 20,000-point milestone, but defensive issues both early and late in the game were on full display against the Spurs. Keldon Johnson scored 33 points — still his second-highest mark of the season — but the Bulls allowed a 36-point first quarter and a 35-point fourth against a team that now has just 14 wins. It was a sign of things to come.
4. Dec. 26 vs. Rockets
It wasn’t just losing at home to the tanking Rockets, but the timing of it. The Bulls had just come off of a road trip in which they beat the Heat, Hawks, and Knicks, seemingly fixing the issues that hampered the team. The locker room was supposedly closer after the incident in Minnesota, and the players said they were all on the same page as far as urgency. They obviously weren’t.
3. Jan. 13 vs. Thunder
Losing to the Thunder in OKC earlier was one thing. After all, the Thunder are athletic and play hard from tipoff to the final buzzer, which isn’t always a great mix for the Bulls to deal with. But with DeRozan sidelined, this game was an opportunity for Zach LaVine to show why he received a max contract. He did go 14-for-15 from the free-throw line but was 5-for-19 from the field, including 1-for-8 from three-point range, in posting a minus-18 in plus/minus.
2. Jan. 11 at Wizards
With the Wizards missing Bradley Beal, Daniel Gafford and Kristaps Porzingis, LaVine again had a chance to play hero without DeRozan. All the Bulls did was build a 16-point lead only to squander it late, losing to the undermanned Wizards by three.
1. Jan. 24 at Pacers
The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton and riding a seven-game losing streak. It was headed for eight, with the Bulls building a 21-point lead and seemingly in complete control. That’s not how it finished, though, as Indiana scored 70 points in the second half.
