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What we learned from the Chicago Bulls overtime loss to the Orlando Magic

The Chicago Bulls rue foul trouble, and fatigue in an overtime loss to the Orlando Magic
Stephen Beslic|
© Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

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The Chicago Bulls competed hard but simply ran out of gas and took a 108-114 overtime loss to the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.

Coach Billy Donovan said fatigue did the Bulls in, as they had three players who played at least 43 minutes. Donovan said his rotation was affected when Andree Drummond was called for four fouls in the first half.

Fatigue slowed down Chicago

“I think foul trouble really exhausted our team, quite honestly. I thought we were really tired coming down the stretch. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but I just felt like we were gassed,” Donovan said.

Coby White played for 45 minutes and scored 14 points. DeMar DeRozan fired 28 markers but needed 44 minutes to get there. Nikola Vucevic finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds in 43 minutes of playing time.

Chicago’s starters played at least 35 minutes each. In contrast, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero were the only Orlando starters to play for more than 30 minutes.

Wagner scored a game-high 36 points in 43 minutes of play, while Banchero scored 19 in 42 minutes of playing time.

The Bulls ran out of steam

Chicago led by 11 points late in the third quarter, 83-72, but Orlando came back and took a five-point lead in the final 1:32, 101-96.

DeRozan tied the contest at 101-all with 45.9 seconds left and the squads would not score from that point on that sent the match into overtime.

The Magic then pounced on the gassed Bulls by scoring six straight points to start the overtime period and were in control the rest of the way.

“Pretty sure everybody is tired. It’s that point in the season where everybody is waiting for a break. We have to leave it all out there,” DeRozan said.

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Stephen Beslic
STEPHEN BESLIC

Stephen Beslic is a writer on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Stephen played basketball from the age of 10 and graduated from Faculty of Economic and Business in Zagreb, Croatia, majoring in Marketing.

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