Getty Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dunks the ball against Zach LaVine #8 and DeMar DeRozan #11 of the Chicago Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls got blown out by the Milwaukee Bucks on March 22, losing by a final score of 126-98.
With the loss, the Bulls dropped to 0-16 against the current top-three teams in each conference and DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso know why the club is struggling versus the NBA’s best.
“We have plenty of talent on our team. It’s not about a talent issue. It’s about executing,” Caruso said during his postgame press conference. “Basketball at any level — middle school, high school, college, pro — winning basketball is winning basketball. It doesn’t change no matter what level you’re at. If you want to win an NBA championship, you want to compete in the playoffs, you want to play in March Madness, get to the state finals in high school, you have to execute and do your sh*t really well and we’re not doing our stuff good enough right now.”
DeRozan, the Bulls’ leading scorer, echoed a similar message as Caruso.
“Sometimes we have to understand how to channel our frustration on our opponent. It’s not a talent issue at all because we’ve proved we’re a great team,” DeRozan told reporters. “It’s just execution, especially when you play against the top-notch teams. They understand the value of executing on both ends. They understand their assignment every time they step out there on the court, 1-5. Those teams are always on a string. We show it in spurts, but the good teams that go far do it as close to 48 minutes as possible, not just a quarter or half a quarter.”
Both Caruso and DeRozan believe the Bulls aren’t executing properly against the upper echelon teams. That will eventually have to change. Otherwise, Chicago will probably get swept in the first round of the 2022 playoffs.
DeRozan: ‘We’re Going Through It Right Now’
The Bulls are in a major funk right now. They are only 9-11 in their last 20 games and DeRozan wants to see how his teammates will respond to adversity.
“We’re going through it right now, what you call battle wounds, battle scars,” DeRozan said. “We’re kind of taking them all on the chin right now. It’s going to show us what we’re made out of. … At some point, we’ve got to get tired of getting our butt kicked like this and flip that switch of understanding, all right, enough is enough. Now it’s time to turn it around and show that desperation.”
The Bulls are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. If the regular season ended today, they would face the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Time is running out on Chicago to prove it can hang with the big boys and the players know it.
Caruso on Bulls Losing to Good Teams: ‘It’s Happened Too Many Times’
Caruso and Tristan Thompson are the only players on the Bulls with championships. The former, who won the 2020 title with the Los Angeles Lakers, says Chicago has to learn from its mistakes.
“You can’t just flush it,” Caruso said. “It’s happened too many times. You gotta learn from it.”
The Bulls have 10 games left in the regular season. It will be interesting to see how they close out the season and if they can beat an elite team for the first time all year.
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