“We were just all over the place” - DeMar DeRozan blames and regrets turnovers as Chicago Bulls lose to the Los Angeles Clippers
In a season during which a lot of things have gone wrong for the Chicago Bulls, one thing they are good at is taking care of the ball. In fact, they're seventh best in the league when it comes to the number of turnovers committed per game with only 13.7. Curiously, on Tuesday, turnovers were what doomed the Bulls in a 108-103 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
“We were just all over the place,” said Bulls wingman DeMar DeRozan, who was the biggest culprit in the turnover department, committing a career-high eight of them.
Late game miscue
In fact, the Bulls' last shot at tying the game flamed out due to a passing miscue by guard Alex Caruso. Down 106-103 with 5.2 seconds remaining, the normally-reliable guard threw the ball in between DeRozan and Zach LaVine, and had it stolen by Clippers star Kawhi Leonard.
“We didn’t execute the play very well,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “We need to be better there. It’s something we’ve worked on. I think it’s something we can learn from.”
Here's footage of the crucial play gone wrong:
Miscommunication
The loss was another heartbreaker in a Bulls season filled with them. Chicago led by 19 early in the second quarter, but suddenly lost steam. The Clippers used this to their advantage and trimmed the deficit down to four, 54-58, at halftime, before pulling off all the stops in the clutch. But more than anything, it was the Bulls' 20 turnovers that doomed them.
Caruso gave an explanation for his late-game turnover, but it provided little solace to Bulls fans everywhere as the team dropped to 23-27.
“Zach had a little angle so I tried to lead him to a spot. I think there was probably just a little miscommunication on our part on who the ball was intended for. We ran the play I was supposed to run. We maybe just didn’t execute the screening aspect on how they were guarding it because they were switching everything. So maybe we could’ve screened our own better or broke open better. But for the most part, it was pretty much what we drew up,” said Caruso.
