The game dwindled to the final seconds with the Chicago Bulls firmly in control, holding an 11-point lead over the Atlanta Hawks.
Typically that signals it’s time for a bench player to dribble out the clock. Players then shake hands and head back to the locker room to celebrate or, more importantly, check their phones.
But instead of dribbling it out Friday, Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu stormed down the lane on a fast break for a layup with 17 seconds left. The Hawks rushed back and scored three seconds later on a Trae Young jumper before the Bulls answered again on Coby White’s 3-pointer at the 7-second mark.
This is the new norm in the era of the NBA Cup, the in-season tournament in which leaving in starters to pile on is not only accepted but encouraged because ties are broken by point differential. It doesn’t pay, literally, to sit on a huge lead in the waning seconds with so much money at stake: $500,000 to the Cup champions.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan was semi-apologetic afterward about leaving in most of his starters at the end of a blowout win.
“I don’t love that part of it, personally,” Donovan said. “But it is what it is and those are the rules, and you’ve got to play with them.”
Whether fatigue factored into a 142-131 loss the next night to the Memphis Grizzlies is debatable. But we might find out if history repeats itself when Cup play resumes Tuesday.
The Bulls enter Tuesday’s game in Washington with a 1-1 record and a minus-4 point differential, meaning they need to beat up on the bottom-feeding Wizards and run up the score as much as possible in case they need that tiebreaker for the lone Eastern Conference wild-card berth in the quarterfinals.
The Bulls still could win East Group C, but they would have to beat the reigning league champion Boston Celtics on Friday at the United Center and also likely would need the Hawks to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers that night. The Bulls then would advance based on their win over the Hawks.
Not that it matters to anyone but the players, who stand to make more money by advancing in the tournament, and the NBA, which is counting on the Cup to become an annual, early season tradition fans look forward to rather than the curiosity it has been thus far.
“It’s fun, it’s something new the NBA is doing,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine said. “It’s generating some more viewership and bringing in more money, and who doesn’t love that?”
True enough, though in the overall scheme of things, the NBA Cup seemingly has little relationship to a team’s chances of winning an actual NBA title. Last year’s inaugural winner was the Los Angeles Lakers, who went on to finish eighth in the Western Conference and lose 4-1 in the first round to the Denver Nuggets.
But for a team like the Bulls that appears to be on the road to nowhere, just getting into the quarterfinals would be a feather in their cap, not to mention extra tip money for the holiday season.
The Bulls could get a big lift for the pre-Thanksgiving back-to-backs that also include Wednesday night’s game in Orlando. Lonzo Ball will travel with the team, Donovan told Chicago Sports Network at practice Monday, with the possibility of returning from the right wrist sprain that sidelined him after the third game — Ball’s first NBA action since January 2022, when he underwent the first of multiple knee surgeries.
Ball was listed as doubtful on Monday’s NBA injury report, while Patrick Williams (left foot inflammation) was listed as out. Donovan said Saturday that Ball would remain on a minutes restriction whenever he returns. He started out at around 15 to 16 minutes, which is probably where he’ll remain, Donovan speculated.
Ball had a plus-7.7 average plus-minus during his brief return, which still ranks 17th in the league and suggests how much better the Bulls can be when their best point guard is on the court.
“I know it’s a very, very small sample size, but you look at his plus-minus on the floor and it’s crazy for the amount of time he’s got,” Donovan said Saturday. “He’s so smart and knows how to play the game that whether it’s 16 or 20 or 22 minutes, he feels he can be a productive player. The biggest thing for me with him going forward is going to be how he can hold up physically with his knee.”
Whether Ball is back this trip or not, the Bulls need to start playing with more consistency in what figures to be an important juncture of the season. They’ll play seven games in 13 days through Dec. 8.
As bad as their 7-11 record and league-worst defensive metrics are, the Bulls are still contenders in the mediocre Eastern Conference, an embarrassment in the opening month with only two real powers in the Celtics and Cavaliers. Western Conference teams had a .638 winning percentage (44-25) against the East entering Monday.
Veteran center Nikola Vučević warned Friday that the Bulls took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter of their win over the Hawks, something they can’t do in an era when big leads can disappear quickly because of increased 3-point volume and faster-paced teams.
The Bulls’ new offensive philosophy could wear down Vučević more as the season rolls on, but Donovan still relies on him for 32 minutes a night, only two fewer than last season’s average with a more controlled offense.
Vučević said the faster pace fits his skill set and he just has to be prepared to run more with more possessions per game.
Some players take off the second game of back-to-backs, but Vučević doesn’t seem to believe in load management. He always is active and seldom misses a game, despite being 34 with a lot of miles on him in a 14-year career.
“Knock on wood, I haven’t had many injuries throughout my career,” Vučević said. “Whenever I’m healthy I try to be available and play. The best skill you can have is to be available and be out there for your team. I take pride in playing as many games as I can.”
Whether the game is better now than back in the day is a debate he didn’t care to dive into only a month into the season.
“It’s a different game,” Vučević said. “Each era has its good and bad. I don’t like to compare which era is better. The way it is now, five or 10 years it’s probably going to be different again.
“In 10 years I’ll probably be on my couch watching them and commenting. Hopefully I won’t be a bitter retired player.”
