MILWAUKEE – This wasn’t what Arturas Karnisovas envisioned on media day back in September.
The Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations was very open about his expectations of the 2022-23 season, and that meant at least a trip to the second round of the playoffs.
Maybe this Bulls roster still gets there.
Or maybe this car-wreck of a team stalls out next week in the first play-in game, ending a season of disappointment and inconsistency.
Either way, they made that journey that much more difficult on Wednesday.
In losing to the Bucks 105-92, the Bulls (38-42) locked themselves into the last and final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.
According to coach Billy Donovan, the plan moving forward would be to rest the core of their starters against Dallas on Friday, get everyone back in to keep a rhythm Sunday in the regular-season finale against Detroit, and then get ready to fight for their play-off lives on the road.
A tall challenge, but one his players seem ready to embrace, no matter how bad it currently looked.
“I always believe that if you got a chance you got a way,’’ veteran DeMar DeRozan said. “We got a chance, and now we just got to make a way. Can’t miss this opportunity. Comes down to a one-game elimination.
“It’s an opportunity to make the playoffs, and that’s how we got to look at it.’’
Sounds great, but they had an opportunity to possibly better their positioning for the play-in, even getting a home game if they could have taken care of business the last few days. Instead, back-to-back losses to Atlanta and a short-handed Milwaukee squad.
That doesn’t exactly scream “Bring on the play-in!”
“You’ve got to throw it all out there,’’ guard Zach LaVine said. “Every possession is going to matter because if you don’t win, you’re done. So you better throw it all out there.’’
Advice that would have come in handy a few hours earlier.
Without Giannis Antetokounmpo (knee) around to wreck game plans, the Bulls seemingly should have sprinted out of the gate at the Fiserv Forum.
Then again, considering the magnitude of Sunday’s game with Memphis and then Tuesday against Atlanta, there was an expected urgency right from the tip-off.
These Bulls, however, don’t do urgency.
Instead, they would much rather sleepwalk into a first-quarter deficit, and then at some point decide how quickly they want to try and climb out of it. A mindset that will get a team a quick vacation to Cancun starting next week.
Yet, there the Bulls were, down 11 in the first quarter, looking like there was somewhere they’d rather be. They were lucky to close out the first only down 28-21, considering LaVine and DeRozan combined to score two points.
Thank goodness for Nikola Vucevic.
The big man had eight points in that first quarter, and then followed that up with a 10-point second quarter on 4-for-5 shooting from the field.
With Khris Middleton joining Antetokounmpo in street clothes after the forward played just eight minutes of that opening quarter, the Bulls took a 51-49 lead into the locker room at halftime, finally understanding the importance of the evening.
When Patrick Beverley hit a three-pointer less than four minutes into the second half, that lead was up to 10. No problem, right? Not even close.
Milwaukee not only battled back, but took the lead back in the fourth. As for the Bulls, they opted to go quietly into the night.
“Teams are too good, the room for error is too small,’’ DeRozan said of the slow starts having to stop. “We’ve got to realize that.’’
As for DeRozan, a 3-for-12 shooting night for eight points didn’t help.
“It won’t happen again,’’ DeRozan said. “I guarantee you that.’’