TORONTO – DeMar DeRozan was frustrated.
Rip a towel in half, ejected from the game, toss the jersey down in the hallway level of frustrated.
The low of the low.
And after the 121-108 loss to the Raptors that dropped the Bulls to 5-12 on the year, as well as eliminating them from reaching the knockout round of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, the veteran was searching for some sort of hope in a season offering up very little so far.
“I don’t know man,’’ DeRozan said. “The true standard of a person is who they become when adversity hits. Be honest with you it is frustrating, losing when we have opportunities, self-inflicted, putting ourselves down. To be honest with you it’s beyond frustrating. Sleep on it, it’s going to be a long night. All about how you respond from it.’’
Maybe not the best player to get “respond’’ advice from on Friday, considering DeRozan was ejected from the game with 1.4 seconds left after Toronto All-Star Pascal Siakim was still putting up three-pointers with the shot clock turned off and the game well in hand.
According to Siakim, he was still looking to score because the In-Season Tournament uses point differential. Problem was the Raptors (8-8) were eliminated before the game with the Bulls was even played.
None of that mattered to DeRozan, who had some choice words for the Raptors bench before and while he was leaving the court.
“I don’t care about no in-season tournament point,’’ DeRozan said. “None of that. Just respect for the game.’’
Asked if he could share what he said to the bench, he replied, “Probably not.’’ And a clean version wasn’t offered up.
“Everybody yelling from over there (the Raptors bench), ‘Score, score, score … ‘ Take the win, get out of here,’’ DeRozan said. “Whether you need the in-season points or not, just for the respect I have for my opponents, hold the ball, especially if there’s no shot clock (on). That’s just me.’’
Billy Donovan was given his own explanation of the situation.
“It’s like an NBA thing from the standpoint of it’s a tournament, how much you win by matters, and that was the explanation I got,’’ the coach said. “I always feel like I never try to worry about anybody else’s team. We need to do what we’ve got to do.’’
And that in itself has been an issue for this Bulls team.
In-Season Tournament game, regular-season game, it really doesn’t matter when it comes to starts off the opening tip. The Bulls remain painful to watch and epic failures in the playing with urgency department.
Following a pull-up jumper by OG Anunoby and then a three-pointer by Gary Trent Jr., the Bulls took under six minutes to fall behind by 12.
By the time the first quarter mercifully ended, the Bulls trailed 36-22. Not a real surprise, considering it was the 13th game this season in which they’ve trailed after the opening stanza. They also held onto their league-worst first-quarter scoring title with an average of 24 points.
And as bad as they are in the first, they seem to come to life in the fourth. Not an ideal way to play sustained basketball, let alone winning basketball, but definitely the Bulls’ reality.
Trailing by 18 with 9:21 left in the game, another Zach LaVine three eventually cut it to 12. A three by Coby White and then a Patrick Williams dunk made it just a seven-point deficit, leading to a Toronto timeout.
Credit the Raptors for the quick adjustment to stop the bleeding, because they came out of the timeout and were all business on both ends of the floor, stretching the lead back to 14 within three minutes.
“There’s enough here,’’ DeRozan said of his team getting out of the rut. “It’s just about finding that right combination for it to hit on all cylinders consistently. It seems like we’re all over the place.’’