The Chicago Bulls tasted defeat for the first time in weeks as they fell to the Memphis Grizzlies, 116-110. Safe to say the team was not happy about it one bit.
DeMar DeRozan's sheen of invincibility seemed to have worn off for this game. While he did manage to pile on 31 points, it took him 29 shots to do it. The frustrations boiled over in the end, when he got ejected over arguing a non-call during the waning moments of the game.
DeMar gets ejected after not getting the call 😳 pic.twitter.com/aT25ldluKq
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 27, 2022
According to Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, DeRozan's late-game blow-up was an accumulation of frustration from earlier in the contest over not getting a favorable whistle.
Via Cody Westerlund:
Article Continues Below“I thought early in the game, he got fouled really, really quite a bit early and he should've been to the free-throw line,” said the Bulls coach. “I've not watched the film — that's just going from my eyes watching the game on some downhill plays.”
But the loss goes beyond just DeMar DeRozan not getting certain calls. Zach LaVine, who finished with 28 points himself, harped on not starting the halves properly, which put Chicago in a hole they couldn't get out of.
“We didn't play the right way in the first and third quarters,” said the Bulls star.
Chicago was outscored by 16 in those two quarters combined. While the Bulls usually have the offensive firepower to come back from such deficits, the Memphis Grizzlies have been one of the best teams in the league. Ja Morant gave them a stern reminder of that by dropping 46 points on the evening. It was definitely a game where the Bulls missed Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball defensively.
The loss was a good reality check for DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Billy Donovan. There's still a lot of work to be done in Chicago if they really want to make noise come postseason.