December 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\nMonday followed Chicago\u2019s script. One monotonous enough for Bulls fans to grow bored of, even in a season just 20 games old.<\/p>\n
Trip over themselves with turnovers. Miss key boards, whether for reasons as understandable as Monday\u2019s lack of size \u2014 the Bulls await the return of centers Jalen Smith and Zach Collins \u2014 or as inexplicable as any of the free-throw box-out blunders. And the final, signature act: force themselves into a clutch game.<\/p>\n
The Bulls know the ingredients they cook with.<\/p>\n
For a fourth straight game, Chicago was in range and even held a 15-point lead before succumbing to the kind of finish that has bordered on inevitable in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Chicago drilled 43.2 percent of its 37 3-point attempts, 21 more points beyond the arc than the abysmal outside-shooting Magic. But nearly everything else, including both what these Bulls pride themselves on and what they\u2019ve hoped to patch up, belonged to Orlando.<\/p>\n
The Magic, a similarly potent paint-scoring team, outscored Chicago there by eight on the same number of attempts. They belittled the Bulls as a transition team, allowing just eight fast-break attempts and outscoring them 21-7. The Magic reaffirmed their place as the league\u2019s leader in free-throw attempts, tallying more makes (26) than the Bulls did attempts. They made the most of second chances, even concocting them in unfathomable circumstances.<\/p>\n
The most excruciating came in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Inside the final four minutes, Orlando extended a possession with two offensive boards, providing Bane a couple of chances to drill a pivotal 3. Donovan\u2019s arms plopped down behind him in disappointment. Just over a minute later, with Chicago down 3, former Bull Wendell Carter Jr. ignored Matas Buzelis while swooping in for a two-hand putback jam.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s got nothing to do with shooting,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cThat\u2019s got everything to do with the physical component of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
To that end, Monday was sweet and sour for Buzelis, who totaled 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Historically, visits to the Kia Center aren\u2019t his fondest memories. He has already fouled out twice there in his two seasons, including in a win back in October, the beginning of this winding path in which he\u2019s sensed himself rising on opponents\u2019 scouting reports.<\/p>\n
A conundrum, while expected, that begs him to answer questions about himself. Queries of physicality, his frame and patience. Whether he can hang.<\/p>\n
Orlando\u2019s attack provoked Buzelis\u2019 bite. Bane repeatedly tried him, nudged him, egged him on. Buzelis was willing to take it further, shoving him for officials to see, receiving a tech in the fourth quarter. Was it ill-timed, with the Bulls in a two-possession game with just over two minutes left? Undoubtedly. Was it welcomed, considering Chicago\u2019s deflated nature during this skid? Likely.<\/p>\n
His Bulls are dropping at an alarming rate. Coby White sat Monday night with tightness in his left calf (it was his right calf that kept him sidelined from August to November). Not even midway through the first quarter, Kevin Huerter left with a groin injury and never returned, bandaged postgame. Smith, Isaac Okoro and Noa Essengue didn\u2019t travel with the team, each absent with injuries for several games.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s rotation, designed to uphold a system predicated on cycling bodies, was never supposed to deteriorate so suddenly. In their stunning early-season wins, the Bulls kept a threshold of availability, a couple platoon swaps in hand to maintain Donovan\u2019s marathon of an offense.<\/p>\n
The latest injury report twisted Donovan\u2019s arm into playing two-way players Lachlan Olbrich and Emanuel Miller.<\/p>\n
And yet, they played with a passable version of the desperation Donovan has yearned for. Olbrich is rugged. For as awkward and unremarkable as his frame might seem, his feel and knack for dipping his toe in unexpected hustle plays prevail. Forward Julian Phillips sought the kind of second chances that Donovan prays for. Tre Jones nearly injured himself attempting to secure a late possession.<\/p>\n
Buzelis, through bumps and rim-challenges, even while Bane got the best of him, had a clear message: I\u2019m not going. <\/p>\n
But for every play that inched these ill-equipped Bulls closer to appearing like a truly physical team, the Magic grounded them.<\/p>\n
Josh Giddey totaled a season-high eight turnovers. Box outs went unchecked. Bane taunted and finished over Buzelis\u2019 lanky contests. Olbrich and Miller seemed overwhelmed during the run that saw the Bulls\u2019 15-point lead erased in the same quarter it was built. Patrick Williams, still bound to defensive expectations, finished a team-worst minus-18.<\/p>\n
Chicago, in Donovan\u2019s eyes, checked off meaningful boxes. Just not enough to move the needle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do see us being better at the point where teams were (previously) driving right through us and taking layups,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily see that happening. Just the reality is it\u2019s not been good to get us over the hump and win games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan\u2019s staff has emphasized playing with force to the point of redundancy. The Bulls have dropped five of their last six for a 9-11 record on the season; they\u2019re in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, one game ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks (9-13).<\/p>\n
Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 no longer reaches for new words. Platitudes \u2014 \u201cIt has to be a team effort,\u201d he repeated Monday \u2014 suffice.<\/p>\n
His Bulls find themselves back here, bound to the same fate, far too often.<\/p>\n