CHICAGO (670 The Score) – Ahead of the Bulls’ home opener against the Thunder on Saturday evening, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas proclaimed a commitment to his team’s new-look fast-paced playing style – through the good times and the bad.
"Regardless of turnovers, we're going to continue playing this style until guys feel really comfortable playing (it),” Karnisovas said in an interview on 670 The Score.
A couple hours later, Karnisovas watched as his Bulls endured an ugly potential side effect of that commitment. In a 114-95 loss to the Thunder at the United Center, the Bulls committed 26 turnovers and shot a paltry 34.8%, never found a rhythm offensively and never had a chance in the second half.
Zach LaVine committed a team-high seven turnovers, but he wasn’t alone on a night the Bulls’ guards played poorly. LaVine, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Lonzo Ball combined to shoot 11-of-42 and combined for 14 turnovers.
"I got to take responsibility for that,” LaVine said of his careless play. “That's two games I've had seven. Today was just unforced. It's not like they did anything. I just couldn't hold onto the ball. It was bad."
Turnovers have largely told the story in the Bulls’ 1-2 start. In a 123-111 loss to the Pelicans in their season opener Wednesday, the Bulls had 21 turnovers. In a 133-122 win at Milwaukee on Friday, Chicago had just nine turnovers and played a clean, efficient game.
“I thought the New Orleans game was solely from the fact when we got into the teeth of the defense, we were trying to make plays up in the air instead of playing off two feet, trying to force things that were not there and make passes up in the air and they’re long and they’re athletic and they deflect a lot of balls,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I didn’t necessarily feel like that was (the case tonight). I thought there was a lot of carelessness, to be honest with you, where we just lost the ball. Some of it wasn’t even forced.”
The Bulls entered Saturday leading the NBA with 107.6 possessions per game, according to Basketball Reference, then promptly went out and played even faster with a 116-possession game. The Bulls acknowledged that it’s been an adjustment to playing at the higher tempo, although that didn't excuse such an egregious number of 26 turnovers.
“A lot of it was self-inflicted, just playing kind of too fast,” White said. “Like we want to play fast, but playing too fast (can contribute to turnovers). I think a lot of it were turnovers where we just lost the ball or stuff like that, we tried to throw a pass somebody and threw it over his head.”
In Donovan’s mind, the Bulls’ challenge in playing more up-tempo extends beyond taking care of the ball. Forcing shots too early in the shot clock can also lead to inefficient play, and he credited the Thunder for locking his team down while stressing that the Bulls’ new playing style must be balanced with good shot selection.
“Most of the time, good defensive teams make you go deeper in the shot clock,” Donovan said. “And you got to be willing to do that. It may require two, three drives or ball movement from one side to the next side several times. A lot of the game is always going to come down to decision-making.
You’re never going to be able to escape that.
“This is part of the growth curve for our team handling the basketball.”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.