CHICAGO (670 The Score) – In their final home game of the regular season, on fan appreciation night no less, the Bulls produced their lowlight of the year, a snafu that left even-keeled coach Billy Donovan notably upset in an eventual 128-117 loss to the Knicks on Tuesday at the United Center.
The moment of infamy occurred in the first minute of the second quarter, when big man Andre Drummond poked the ball away from Knicks forward Bojan Bogdanovic in the frontcourt. Bulls forward Torrey Craig scooped the ball up and had an easy bucket awaiting him on a three-on-zero transition opportunity for his team, but Craig instead decided to go the extra mile in an effort to spark his team and fire up the crowd.
He tossed the ball off the backboard with the intention to throw down a ferocious dunk himself. Instead, Drummond swooped in from behind, believing the backboard lob pass was intended for him, and the two collided at the top of their jumps. Drummond essentially fouled Craig from behind. The ball bounded away and was retrieved by the Knicks.
In the box score, it was recorded as a missed dunk by Craig. In the public discourse, it represented a symbolic moment in a disappointing Bulls campaign in which they’re sitting at 37-42 with three games left in the regular season.
"Just got a fast break, wanted to create some excitement, try to give us an edge, try to create some momentum for us,” Craig said. “Obviously, didn't know Drum was going to jump out there with me. It was a miscommunication or a misinterpretation, whatever. But at the end of the day, I’ve just got to dunk the ball or lay it up. I’ll take the blame on that.”
For history’s sake, Craig confirmed he was trying to author a highlight all by himself and that the pass was in no way intended for Drummond.
“Dunk it,” Craig said of what he was thinking. “Like, dunk it. Like I said, create some excitement for us, try to give us a bit of an edge and just make a run. Obviously, it didn’t turn out that way.”
Unlike those on social media, Donovan didn’t find the play funny in any regard. He was so angered that he called a timeout just 12 seconds after the missed dunk. His timeout coincided with Drummond going down with a nasty left ankle sprain that sidelined him for the rest of the game, but Donovan said postgame he wasn’t aware that Drummond was hurt until after he had called timeout.
“We addressed it on the bench,” a stern Donovan said postgame of Craig’s decision. “Obviously, to me, it was just really disappointing. I’m not going to get into what I said, but you’re down by 10. There was a lot of self-induced things that I thought we contributed to – not only that play but other plays that maybe weren’t as loud as that. But that play was disappointing to me.
“I don’t care really who he was throwing the ball to. I just, we don’t need to be doing that. I’m not going to get into everything I said on the bench, but that’s not what I’m about and it’s not what we should be about.”
Donovan kept Craig in the game after the frustrating miscue, though he also admitted he was upset by Craig later getting a technical foul in the third quarter for arguing a personal foul call.
“These guys are professional players,” Donovan said of keeping Craig in the game. “He’s got a job to do. I think he felt bad about it. I think it got addressed on the bench, but I’m not going to sit there and hold a grudge against him. We need him.”
While the Craig blunder was the hot topic of conversation postgame, both Donovan and Bulls guard Coby White stressed that Chicago quickly moved on from the mistake and that it didn’t linger to affect the result in any way. Instead, the loss could be traced to the Bulls defense’s inability to slow down the Knicks, who got 45 points from star guard Jalen Brunson and shot 55.4% as a team.
“Brunson’s a mother ******,” White said in praising him.
As part of his postgame comments, Craig took “accountability” for contributing to the Bulls’ self-inflicted mistakes. The Bulls know they’ll have to clean them up to have any chance to win two games in the play-in round to advance to the traditional eight-team playoff bracket in the East. The Bulls and Hawks will square off in the 9/10-seed play-in game.
“Sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us, but it’s an emotional game, especially when you want to win, especially when you’re competitive,” Craig said. “Sometimes your emotions are going to get the best of you. We just got to do a better job as a team in not letting it cost us in games.”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund .
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