Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine wasn’t happy with himself after losing to the Sacramento Kings on March 14.
During his postgame media session with reporters, LaVine called himself out for not having the right “mentality” during the Kings game. The two-time All-Star settled for too many jumpers in the first half before turning it on in the second half and driving more to the rim.
“I gotta do a better job with just my mentality,” LaVine said, via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I’m going out there and playing through some pain in my knee but I gotta have the right mindset. I can’t tiptoe into the game. It’s my first game back. I could put excuses out there. But I put that on myself where I made a mental decision in the second half to play like me. I gotta start off that way.”
LaVine played 36 minutes against the Kings after missing the previous game due to left knee soreness. He finished with 27 points and six assists while shooting 8-of-18 from the field and 2-of-7 from beyond the arc. The Bulls lost to the lowly Kings by nine points and LaVine believes he and his teammates need to be the aggressor moving forward.
LaVine: ‘We Didn’t Start off the Right Way’
The Bulls trailed the Kings by 20 at halftime. LaVine only had five points, while DeMar DeRozan had eight.
For Chicago to win games, LaVine and DeRozan have to get off to better starts.
“We didn’t start off the right way. We got punched in the mouth,” LaVine said, via Johnson. “We gotta start punching these teams in the mouth. We need to have those conversations and get on point going into this last stretch because it’s not going to get any easier. We don’t know when who’s going to be there, who’s going to be injured, in or out of the lineup. We gotta play the right way and have a certain identity. We obviously didn’t do that.”
The Bulls’ next two games will be tough. They face the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns, two of the best teams in the NBA. To make matters worse, Lonzo Ball still isn’t back from his knee surgery and LaVine continues to play injured.
LaVine’s Left Knee Is Bothering Him
LaVine told reporters after the Kings game that he’s going to have to walk a fine line between playing with the aggression that defined his early-season play and managing his left knee. The Washington native won’t be 100% until he addresses his knee in the summer.
“I feel good right now,” LaVine said, via Johnson. “Obviously, I’m going to try to do everything I can to play these games and also be careful and understand the long haul.”
LaVine becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. He’s expected to sign a max contract, so the UCLA product can’t afford to tear anything in his left knee.
Zach LaVine Calls Himself out Following Bulls’ Troublesome Defeat