After hanging around, Bulls unravel and lose composure in a 113-97 loss to Bucks

CHICAGO (670 The Score) – The Bulls had a fighting chance against the Bucks in the fourth quarter Friday night, trailing by eight with 11 minutes remaining.

Then the Bucks got even more physical and the Bulls lost their composure, with center Nikola Vucevic being ejected shortly thereafter on a flagrant-2 foul. That was a key sequence in a 17-0 run by Milwaukee that ended any doubt about what the outcome would end up being – a 113-97 win for the Bucks at the United Center.

“We let our own frustration take over everything else,” said Bulls star forward DeMar DeRozan, who had just 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

The lowlight for the Bulls came with 9:27 left, when Vucevic decked Bucks guard AJ Green on Green’s drive to the hoop after Vucevic was upset about a no-call on a post-up of his own on the other end. Vucevic was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected upon a review by the officials.

The Bucks led 88-76 at that moment, then proceeded to rip off 13 more points in a row while the Bulls’ offense was disheveled. Afterward, Vucevic issued an apology to Green in a media session and added that he would try to speak with Green in person once he was done talking with reporters.

“It was just frustration, not just that no-call but a build-up,” said Vucevic, who had 17 points on 8-of-18 shooting. “Was having a bit of a rough game, not playing as well. In the moment, I just lost my cool a little bit too much. I didn’t see the play (yet). I don’t know if (the flagrant-2) was deserved or not, but definitely not a foul that I should’ve made. It could’ve been a dangerous play … Obviously, I just needed to hold my cool a little better.”

Tensions had been building long before Vucevic’s blow on Green. Bulls coach Billy Donovan warned officials in the first half where the physical game was heading – toward tempers flaring and theatrics unfolding. With 31 seconds left in the third quarter, DeRozan received a flagrant-1 foul for hard contact on Bucks big man Bobby Portis on the way up the court. DeRozan also received a technical foul simultaneously for complaining, as he was upset by a recent no-call on a physical box-out by Portis.

Just more than a minute earlier, Bucks guard Patrick Beverley, one of the great irritants in NBA history, had continuously harassed DeRozan with physical on-ball defense that the Bulls felt deserved a foul call. The whistle came seconds later, but the call was a foul on Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu for drilling Beverley with a hard screen.

DeRozan traced the Bulls’ frustration primarily to the officiating. The Bulls were whistled for 21 fouls, while the Bucks were called for 18. Entering the fourth quarter, the Bulls had been whistled for 14 fouls and the Bucks 13, though Milwaukee had the advantage at the free-throw line as it got to the rim a fair deal. The Bulls shot 14-of-16 at the free-throw line, while the Bucks shot 24-of-32.

“Just call it fair,” DeRozan said. “I think that’s more so where the frustration comes from. When we come down and feel like we’re getting hit and they come down and we barely touch them, but they’re getting the call, that kind steams over. Just the fairness of the calls, I kind of think, was the main focal (point) of our frustration more so than anything.”

Personally, DeRozan was also irked by Portis standing over him and staring him down on one occasion.

“As long as I play the game, I’m big on respect,” DeRozan said. “I don’t play the whole games, staring down somebody, trying to disrespect anybody. I’m all about competing, doing your thing, all that. But if I feel anything disrespectful in any type of way, I don’t accept that. Because I wouldn’t do it to nobody else or stand over somebody or look over somebody. It’s just my respect for the game, so when I feel like it was done to me, I take it a certain way.”

The Bulls dropped to 28-32 with the loss and now face a daunting four-game West Coast trip next, with road games against the Kings, Jazz, Warriors and Clippers. To find success, they’ll need to do a better job with their mental focus, Donovan said.

“We have to look at how we can respond in those situations better, how we can control the emotional level better,” Donovan said of his Bulls losing their composure. “I think that for both teams, in a large respect, not everybody got every call that they wanted. So we’re going to have to be able to overcome that.”

Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund .