Bulls fall to Knicks thanks to comedy of self-induced errors

It will be hard for Bulls coach Billy Donovan to call it a film session when he gathers the troops Wednesday at the Advocate Center.

Instead, he should just tell his players what it was against the Knicks: a blooper reel.

There was Torrey Craig trying to throw a breakaway alley-oop off the backboard to himself, only to be knocked to the ground by teammate Andre Drummond. There was reserve Adama Sanogo looking up at the rim while a perfectly placed pass for him rolled by. Throw in a blocked shot by the Knicks that landed out of bounds on the fallen DeMar DeRozan, and a comedy of errors led to the Bulls’ 128-117 loss.

‘‘We did some really dumb stuff . . . everybody, not just T-Craig,’’ guard Coby White said. ‘‘We’re a team, so we’re not going to single him out. It was all self-induced.’’

The Craig play was the one that stood out, however, especially because Donovan called a timeout and let the team have it.

‘‘We addressed it on the bench,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘To me, it was just really disappointing. I’m not going to get into what I said. There were a lot of self-induced things that we contributed to. Maybe not as loud as that [play], but that play was disappointing to me.’’

The silver lining, however, was that the Hawks also lost, so the Bulls (37-42) remained a game in front of them for in the battle for home-court advantage in the No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game. The Bulls also have the tiebreaker, so they’re essentially two up with only three games to play.

Not that there is a sure thing with the Bulls, but their next two games are Thursday at Detroit and Friday at Washington. Those teams have 28 combined victories.

Meanwhile, the Hawks host the Hornets, then finish on the road at Minnesota and Indiana.

But there was a lot of cleaning up for the Bulls to do after their latest loss, in which they were cooked by Knicks guard Jalen Brunson for 45 points, including 7-for-12 from three-point range and 12-for-12 from the free throw line.

Medical tent

Not that the Bulls needed more injury concerns at this point of the season, but one came anyway with the news that Ayo Dosunmu missed the game with an injured quad. Plus, Drummond left the game with a badly turned left ankle.

‘‘I don’t know how long it will or will not be because I think he felt OK after the game [Sunday] in Orlando,’’ Donovan said of Dosunmu. ‘‘I think after he felt a little better, it just hasn’t progressed.’’

Dosunmu is averaging 12.2 points for the season but was averaging 17.7 in his previous three games before the injury.

Drummond had to be taken to the training room in a wheelchair, and Donovan said the ankle was badly swollen.

History

White broke the Bulls’ single-season three-point mark with 205, erasing Zach LaVine’s record of 204 in the 2022-23 season.

‘‘It’s a blessing, especially with this historic franchise, all the great players that have come through here,’’ White said. ‘‘Ben Gordon, who was a great shooter; Kirk Hinrich, who was a great shooter; and they’ve got the greatest player to ever play the game [in Michael Jordan] that came through here. The list goes on.’’