Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan criticizes team's effort in loss to Charlotte Hornets - "We are just not desperate enough"

In a post-game interview, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was highly critical of his team's lack of effort in their latest defeat.

It was supposed to be a week of games that could possibly vault the Chicago Bulls into the playoff picture. However, those winnable games became anything but that as the Bulls lost to the third-worst team in the Association—the Charlotte Hornets—111-96, to drop their record to 22-26. It was a defeat that prompted Bulls coach Billy Donovan to urge his team to become more desperate as they try to stay in the hunt for a spot in the postseason.

“We have got to find just more desperation. We have got to become more desperate, and I think there are times where we are just not desperate enough, and that is what it is going to take,” said Donovan.

Disappointing response

The Bulls said all the right things after their horrendous 116-110 loss to the Pacers in their previous game. They lost a massive 21-point lead against Indiana and vowed to be better against the Hornets. It all proved to be lip service as Chicago blew a 10-point lead in the third quarter and then got outscored 17-34 in the fourth to stumble out of Charlotte with a loss.

While the Bulls have been more than up to the task when matched up against the league's elite, they have appeared to be sleepwalking in games against the league's bottom dwelling teams. They have dropped games to the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs and have lost to a Minnesota squad that did not have All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert and a Washington team that did not suit up Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis.

Play up to high standards

Bulls guard Alex Caruso knows what the team is capable of. After all, he's been in the trenches with them when they beat the likes of the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Miami Heat. And so, he's urging his teammates to play up to what they're capable of.

"When we play at our best I think we’re one of the best teams in the league and we’ve beaten, record-wise, the best teams in the league. So I think change or no change, whatever it is, we’ve got to make sure the guys that go out there and play are playing to that standard," said Caruso.