Billy Donovan was ecstatic to see the Chicago Bulls show more consistency

One thing that has plagued the Chicago Bulls over the last two seasons is consistency. In one game, they can beat a loaded squad like the Milwaukee Bucks, and in the next, they’d be losing to a rebuilding team like the San Antonio Spurs. But so far, in December, Bulls coach Billy Donovan witnessed something he hadn’t seen in quite a while: a consistently good performance by his team.

Can they sustain their momentum?

Don’t look now, but the Bulls have won six of their last nine games. And though they remain out of the playoff picture with an 11-17 record, the Bulls look different than the team that, at one point, lost eight of nine games. Even without All-Star guard Zach LaVine, who has missed the last nine games due to an injured foot, the Bulls are finding ways to win.

Now, according to Donovan, it’s just a matter of consistency.

“We’ve competed well against the better teams. It’s just the matter for us can we continue? I think we’re starting to see more consistency,“ he said.

Bulls are back pic.twitter.com/Xw5xtn5Azy
— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) December 19, 2023

Resiliency and toughness

As most people say, an NBA game is a game of runs. And history has shown that these Bulls often wilted when things go awry. One bad shot leads to a missed defensive rotation until the team unravels.

But this season, the Bulls have done a great job staying resilient and tough in critical situations late in games. The team has already had its fair share of close wins—including a 108-104 thriller over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday—proving they’re capable of executing down the stretch when it matters most.

“The ups and downs of the game are going to happen; they happen for every team. But I like the way we’re responding back,” Donovan said.

“Up by 11 tonight, you know they’re gonna come fight back. They come all the way back and tie it up, and we kind of go up by six or seven, they come flying back. (We had) the resiliency and the toughness mentally to kind of keep pushing through that. If we can keep building that, that’s where your consistency comes from.”

Bringing the win back to Chicago.@Plus500 | #SeeRed pic.twitter.com/pUSEQzv2cZ
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 19, 2023