It was pretty simple on Sunday: Win and Donovan was in. But in losing to the 76ers, Miami jumped the Bulls in the overall conference standings, which meant Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was the All-Star coach for the East.
Billy Donovan’s schedule for next weekend just cleared up.
Thanks to a win by the Heat on Saturday, combined with the Bulls’ 119-108 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, Donovan is no longer in line to coach in his first ever All-Star Game, with that now going to Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.
“I definitely do now,’’ Donovan said with a laugh after the game, when reminded that he now had a weekend off. “That’s over and done with now.’’
The concerns with this Bulls team, however, are far from “over and done with,’’ even in an afternoon that they remained very short-handed.
No Zach LaVine (back), no Coby White (groin), and then the usual four that have been in the training room for a while in Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Derrick Jones Jr., and Patrick Williams.
Not that Philadelphia has been overly impressed with whoever the Bulls roll out at them this season, going 3-0 in the series with one game left, but this latest matchup really allowed the 76ers to exploit some weaknesses.
First, they outshot the Bulls from three, hitting 12-for-24 (50%) compared to the home team going 7-for-26 (26.9%), and then they were just more physical, especially in the high pick-and-roll game.
To the credit of the Bulls (33-20) they did handle that set better in the second half, but it still exposed a lack of options that they can throw at the likes of a Joel Embiid, who continued to haunt this team in finishing with 40 points and 10 rebounds.
“I feel like we need to set the tone rather than letting them hit first,’’ Bulls wing Javonte Green said of the mentality that was lacking early. “We made that adjustment at halftime, and I feel like it was improved in the second half.’’
Not enough to get Donovan and his coaching staff an all-expenses paid trip to Cleveland for All-Star Weekend.
Just don’t blame DeRozan.
All the veteran did was remind his teammates of what was at stake for Donovan before the game for some attempted extra motivation, and then go out and drop a season-high 45 points, as well as grab nine rebounds and hand out seven assists.
“I knew about it,’’ DeRozan said, when asked if he knew what was on the line for his coaches. “Brought it up to the guys. It would have been special, those guys deserved it. I told Billy [near] the end of the game that I was going to try and do my best to get this game for him because I would have loved to see those guys have that opportunity. Those opportunities don’t come around often. We just fell short of it. It sucks, but just have to keep on pushing.’’
And pushing with this group of players.
DeRozan made it very clear that he doesn’t want to see his front office look to go out and add players at the trade deadline. Even on the same day that division-rival Cleveland went out and acquired Caris LeVert from Indiana, DeRozan was looking to stand pat and be patient with the injured Bulls players.
“We’re missing Lonzo Ball, one of the top point guards in the league,’’ DeRozan said. “Alex Caruso, one of the best defenders in this league. Patrick Williams, one of the young stars in this league. We haven’t had those guys. And we have them, they’ll be back. We don’t need to worry or stress about having nobody else. Those three right there, I guarantee every team in this NBA wished they had those three guys. We’ll be fine.’’
When asked directly if he wanted the front office to stand pat, DeRozan responded, “Yeah, only you all [the media] talk about that. We don’t talk about it.’’