The time of death for the Bulls’ season was 4:58 p.m. Sunday.
Guard Patrick Beverley can talk about playing the remaining 17 games ‘‘swaggy, always swaggy,’’ and forward DeMar DeRozan can point out, ‘‘As long as you’ve got time, you’ve got a chance.’’ But with only 17 regular-season games left, the Bulls moved a step closer to the offseason than they did to challenging for a spot in the play-in tournament.
They can thank Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton for that.
Haliburton made a tiebreaking three-pointer from 30 feet with Beverley in his face in the final seconds, lifting the Pacers to a 125-122 victory at the United Center.
How damaging was the loss? It knocked the Bulls (29-36) to the No. 12 spot in the East — the Pacers have the same record but own the tiebreaker — 1.5 games behind the Wizards for the final play-in spot.
‘‘It’s beyond frustrating that we lost again,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘It’s overly frustrating to lose, especially when we say it’s a must-win. We’re making our own bed. We can’t complain about it. We’ve got to figure out these last games to dig us out of this hole and put ourselves in a position to make something out of it.’’
All the Bulls have made out of this season is a mess, especially when it comes to winning games late. Case in point, the final five minutes against the Pacers.
Guard Zach LaVine, who looked the part of a max-contract player for most of the game, put the Bulls ahead by one with a three-pointer with 5:12 left. The back-and-forth continued, and LaVine made a 19-foot pull-up jumper to give the Bulls a one-point lead with 49.7 seconds to play.
Buddy Hield answered with a clutch three-pointer to put the Pacers ahead by two, but LaVine wasn’t done. He drew a foul on a three-pointer and had the game in his hands with 22.6 seconds left. He made the first two free throws to tie the score, but the third rimmed out, setting the stage for Haliburton’s heroics.
‘‘They just kept jumping heavy on my right hand,’’ Haliburton said of his game-winner. ‘‘I felt comfortable that Pat was going to jump on my right hand, so I was able to get downhill left. But he came down and pressured me . . . so I just took the first [shot] I saw. It felt good.’’
Beverley wasn’t as impressed.
‘‘He shot the ball, it went in,’’ Beverley said. ‘‘Good shot.’’
The Bulls had one more opportunity, advancing the ball with a timeout and setting up a play that made LaVine the first option. Considering that he scored 42 points, he was the right option. But the Pacers double-teamed him when he popped out on a screen.
The ball ended up in center Nikola Vucevic’s hands, but his turnaround prayer came up short.
As has been the case too often this season, the Bulls only had themselves to blame, allowing the Pacers to grab 13 offensive rebounds and to score 24 points off 15 turnovers.
‘‘I’m definitely surprised,’’ DeRozan said of the Bulls’ position at this point of the season. ‘‘We all got to find something in ourselves to make something happen. The opportunity is still there.’’
Technically, yes.
Realistically? Some holes are too deep to climb out of.
