Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine was benched in the fourth quarter of the Bulls' recent 108-107 home loss to the Orlando Magic. In that game, LaVine scored just four points on a horrid 1-for-14 shooting from the field. Even before he was benched, LaVine definitely knew how badly he performed in that game, regardless of the outcome. His dad doubled down on his poor outing with a straightforward NSFW take that didn't have to be read between the lines.
(h/t K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago)
“I go home and evaluate my game like I do with good games, bad games,” LaVine said. “I talk to my wife. I talk to my father a lot. That’s someone I always talk to. He gave it to me straight, ‘You played like s***. Go play better next game. It’s as simple as that. It’s one game. You’ve played 500 games in your career. You’re going to have another bad night. Just hopefully it’s not as bad as that one. Go play better next game.’”
While LaVine would have preferred to have the chance to atone for his atrocious shooting by helping the team in the clutch of the Orlando game, he's not harboring any resentment towards the decision of Bulls head coach Billy Donovan to keep him on the bench during the final minutes of the said contest, per Sam Smith of NBA.com.
“Me and Billy have a good relationship,” Zach LaVine was saying after Bulls practice Sunday in the wake of his unprecedented late-game benching in the Bulls still can-you-believe-it 108-107 Friday loss to the Orlando Magic. “We talk all the time. We're grown men, it's a grown man's business. There's gonna be uncomfortable days. Just like in any sport or any business, you're not gonna agree on every decision made. So you talk about it, you move on from it and you understand where the other side is coming from.”
LaVine was able to bounce back with a much stronger performance from the loss to the Magic, as he scored 22 points with five rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes in a 121-107 home win over the Boston Celtics on Monday.
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