Struggles continue in clutch-game situations
Bulls are 1-8 in such scenarios this season
The Bulls have had a simple problem when games come down to the wire this season: This team isn’t clutch.
The Bulls are 1-8 in clutch-game scenarios, which the NBA designates as any game with a differential of five points or fewer in the final five minutes.
They posted their first clutchgame win last week with a 118-113 victory over the Bucks but remain the worst team in the league at closing tight games.
With a few tweaks to the final minutes of those eight losses, the Bulls easily could boast a winning record rather than sitting 8-11. Studying those close games could plunge a fan into a mire of what-ifs — if only DeMar DeRozan hit that jumper, if only Nikola Vučević made one of those free throws, if only Ayo Dosunmu didn’t turn the ball over.
This growing late-game ineptitude is a departure from last season, when the Bulls were proficient at scraping out close games. They were 25-16 in clutch-game situations, the league’s fourth-best record. The shift reflects a wider imbalance in the Bulls closing unit.
Last season the late-game formula felt straightforward: Get the ball in the hands of DeRozan. He shot at a 53.5% clip in clutchgame scenarios, averaging 4.1 points in those five-minute periods. He accomplished a huge chunk of that through drawing fouls, averaging 1.7 clutch free throws on 88.7% shooting.
This isn’t anything new. DeRozan has been one of the best clutch-game shooters in the league throughout his 14-season career. Coach Billy Donovan said the Bulls are accustomed to watching opponents throw the kitchen sink at their star defensively in the final minutes: shading, double teams and traps.
Donovan said those lategame defensive tactics haven’t changed this season. But DeRozan hasn’t been the same guaranteed game-winner for the Bulls.
DeRozan scored 36 points in the Bulls’ lone clutch win this season but scored only five points in the fourth quarter. Instead, the Bulls closed out the game against the Bucks from behind the 3-point line — Vučević went 3-for-4 from deep in the fourth quarter and Coby White hit a pair of clutch 3s in the final 1:15.
This doesn’t mean DeRozan has lost his touch. He leads the team with 44.8% shooting in clutch scenarios this season, and history shows he’s likely to drop game-winners down the stretch. But even when he’s playing hero ball, DeRozan needs a certain level of balanced efficiency from his teammates to succeed in late-game scenarios.
While Donovan often cycles between different combinations of Dosunmu, Javonte Green, Patrick Williams and Alex Caruso, the core of the closing group is always the same: DeRozan, Vučević and Zach LaVine.
Despite missing the potential winning free throws against the Orlando Magic on Nov. 18, Vučević has been steady with 37.5% clutch shooting for an average of 0.7 points. But the biggest discrepancy from last season falls on LaVine, who still is struggling to find his footing after offseason knee surgery.
LaVine is averaging 0.5 points in clutch scenarios this season, shooting only 7.7% from the field, and has yet to take a clutch free throw. Injury management kept
LaVine from featuring in three of the clutch games, and he missed the final minutes of the loss to the Magic after being benched on a 1-for-14 shooting night.
Last season LaVine matched DeRozan step for step to close games: 0.9 points per game in the clutch on 49.2% shooting, averag