The Chicago Bulls have managed to mitigate an ugly start to the season with a wild turnaround spearheaded by the likes of Coby White, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. Zach LaVine missed a ton of time with a foot injury, and he’s now back in the injury report dealing with an ankle sprain. Despite that, the Bulls have prevailed.
They’ve competed in a ton of close games, and Monday night marked another one, as they dropped a tight contest to the Phoenix Suns by a score of 115-113. Kevin Durant nailed a contested mid-range jumper to put the Suns up, and while DeRozan had a chance to win it for the Bulls, it was a wild, chuck-it-up three that didn’t fall.
After the game, head coach Billy Donovan said the Bulls have a right to be upset about this game, unlike some of their others, because they fought hard and were in it until the bitter end.
“There’s been some games this year — quite honestly — that we’ve lost that we have no right to be upset about,” Donovan said via ESPN. “This is a game that you can be upset because you poured your heart and soul into it and came up short.”
Chicago was up by as many as 23 points in the third quarter, but Durant absolutely took over the game in the fourth. He scored 17 of his 43 points in the final frame alone, drowning the Bulls after a solid showing.
The Bulls definitely wish they could replay the final 12 minutes of their loss to the Suns.