It wasn’t a must-win game with 21 left in the regular season, but a victory not only would have helped the Bulls in the Eastern Conference standings, it would have made LaVine’s career night more special.
Zach LaVine spent the first half of Friday night’s game against Atlanta chasing down history.
By the second half, the Bulls guard was simply doing everything he could to try and scratch out a win.
Fifty points never felt so empty.
Despite the first-time All-Star also adding his first 50-point night to his career season, the Bulls (22-29) lost a heartbreaker to the Atlanta Hawks 120-108.
Did it cheapen what LaVine did on a night in which he shot 18-for-31, including 7-for-12 from three? It shouldn’t have. Try selling LaVine on that, however, who also added eight rebounds and five assists and said he would trade those numbers for a win.
“Yeah, for sure [I’d trade it for a win],’’ LaVine said. “Played a really, really good half. It sucks when you’ve got an opportunity like that to win, so obviously I’d much rather take the win right now.
“With Toronto [Thursday], we started off slow and I wanted to pick us up with the back-to-back, so I was going to come out aggressive either way.’’
LaVine served notice right from the tip-off that he was on a business trip, scoring the first 10 points of the game for the visiting team.
By the second quarter, LaVine had the Hawks defense bleeding, as they absolutely had no answer for his one-man show.
That included a streak of 25 straight points that was finally broken when Nikola Vucevic made a hook shot with 49.5 seconds left in the first half.
Still, LaVine went into the locker room with 39 points and joining some serious company in doing so. He became the first Bull to score 30-plus in the first half since Michael Jordan did it against Portland back in 1997, and even more impressive it was the third-best first-half performance in the last 25 years, as LaVine joined Kobe Bryant (42 points) and Klay Thompson (40).
Two problems, however:
There was a second half and there was a Trae Young.
For the second time in their careers, LaVine and Young had take-over nights, and while LaVine got his 50, Young had 42 points, as well as nine assists and eight rebounds.
So how did the Hawks (28-25) overcome the 13-point deficit in that first half?
They kept pressuring the Bulls’ still shaky defense, but they also decided anyone but LaVine was going to beat them. Traps and continual blitzes … the Hawks threw everything at LaVine.
“We had a hard time with ball containment,’’ Donovan said of the meltdown. “I think in that second half we had a much more difficult time [defensively]. We obviously had a hard time on both ends of the floor in that second half.
“I think what happened in that second half is there was no question they were going to try and take the ball out of Zach’s hands. When they started trapping him we just didn’t make enough plays. We had to make some plays and we didn’t make them.’’
The good news for LaVine and his teammates if there was any?
The Eastern Conference did nothing to make the loss hurt their current standing. With 21 games left, the Bulls still control the final play-in spot.
“It was special,’’ Vucevic added of LaVine’s night. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something like that. It looked so easy. He wasn’t forcing, he wasn’t trying, it came so naturally to him. It was beautiful to see. I wish we could have done better and helped him win the game, made the night even more special for him. I know he wished we would have won.’’
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/2OHgy3m
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