Mark Daigneault | Chicago Bulls Post-Game | Jan. 24, 2022
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00:00First question, go ahead, Steve.
00:01Steve McGee with News 9.
00:02Your team responds, second half scoring 62 points.
00:05What'd you like from the effort there in the second half?
00:08Yeah, I mean, I thought about midway through the third
00:11there, we got the game turned a little bit,
00:14started to really dig in defensively on the glass.
00:17And then I thought that ignited our offense a little bit
00:20and kept plowing through.
00:22They kept coming at us a little bit.
00:24They made some shots at different times,
00:26even during our run.
00:28And we just kept coming.
00:29It was a good fight tonight, obviously.
00:31You don't come back from down 28 unless you fight like that.
00:34And I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in there.
00:37Nick Gallo, kcthunder.com.
00:39What do you think turned it in that third quarter?
00:41It seemed like there was kind of just
00:43a lull within your group.
00:45But what were maybe some igniters for you?
00:47It's hard to say.
00:48I mean, I thought coming out of halftime,
00:51offensively, we got a couple of good looks.
00:53Their first three rolled around the rim and rolled in.
00:57And then they made a couple of shots.
00:58We missed a couple.
00:59And the game was already at 10 at that point.
01:02And so we didn't have a lot of margin for error.
01:06I think it's just the bigger picture
01:08key is, regardless of what is going on in the game,
01:13scoreboard and things you can't control,
01:15you just got to continue to stay in the moment
01:18and in the next possession.
01:19Because the game can turn, and you
01:21want to be ready when it does.
01:22And I thought we did that eventually.
01:26It would have been nice if we had done that a little sooner
01:28and had the same type of juice earlier on.
01:32It might have led to a win tonight.
01:34But certainly, great fight by our guys
01:38to hang in there and keep coming.
01:40And I wanted to ask you about Lou Pressure's Ayo Adesumu.
01:45And then that turns into a charge.
01:49Was that pre-planned?
01:50Was that something that you all had
01:51talked about in those situations?
01:53It seemed like a heady play for him to rush the rookie.
01:57Yeah, I mean, it was more lineup-related.
01:59We've got Cameron Twilliams out there at the 5.
02:02And if you just let them walk up and play half-court offense
02:07against you, then they're going to be able to exploit
02:09their size.
02:10And so the pressure, heating the ball up like that
02:14was a byproduct of being small at the 5
02:16and trying not to let them get into their offense
02:20in the scoring range, make them initiate offense further away
02:23from the basket.
02:23And Lou and Shea really amped it up there
02:25in that part of the game.
02:26And obviously, we did a good job pressuring.
02:30And it also negated their ability
02:32to play through Vucevic there in a part of the game
02:35where we had basically a free man on him.
02:38Chris Lawson, OKCFender.com, just
02:40kind of piggybacking off of that defensive conversation there.
02:43I mean, Shea had that block on Vucevic.
02:45And then you had Kenridge and that really high pressure
02:47on Levine, that first 8-second count.
02:50Seen that fourth quarter, the defensive pressure
02:52just intensified.
02:53Just what did you see, especially
02:54in that last stretch there from your group
02:56on the defensive end?
02:57Yeah, I mean, I give our guys a lot of credit.
02:59The ball pressure really amped up.
03:03And they brought a lot of energy in the backcourt
03:05to go up there and press the ball like that.
03:07Like I said, it was huge for us because it took them out
03:10of their offense and didn't allow them to use
03:12their size at the 5.
03:14And obviously, if they just pumped the ball
03:16to Vucevic there, we would have had to double
03:17and we would've been in rotation the rest of the game.
03:19But I thought because of the ball pressure
03:21by all those guys, it took them out of the opportunity
03:24to do that.
03:25And wanted to ask you about Shea and his night,
03:2731 points for him, but really balanced 10 assists for him
03:30as well.
03:31It's like he was playing with some pace and some juice
03:33getting downhill.
03:33What did you see in his floor game tonight?
03:35Yeah, I think he's been on a nice little run
03:37here for a while.
03:38He's had a couple lower output games mixed in there.
03:42But I thought he played really good,
03:45like you said, balance tonight.
03:48That was a really efficient 31 points.
03:50He got to the line a ton.
03:51He made the right passes, got his teammates shots,
03:55and played with pace up the floor
03:57and played with pace inside the action, which
03:59makes it harder for the defense to help on him.
04:02And so when he plays like that, the defense
04:04has to be really sharp in order to load up
04:06the way that they want to.
04:07And that's what the really good open floor players do,
04:11whether it's in the half court or the full court.
04:13And he's definitely learning that and doing a really good
04:15job of it.
04:17James Jackson, the Oklahoman.
04:18All of your players that stepped on the floor tonight
04:20scored a point for you, and it was productive for you.
04:23What do you think about the way your team scored on the floor
04:26after tonight?
04:28I mean, we just want to be a team.
04:30We want the open man to get the shot,
04:32and we want the guy that's open to get the ball.
04:35And I think it builds chemistry.
04:37It builds trust.
04:37And I think that's developing inside of our team.
04:40And so I'm always impressed by how encouraging
04:44that the players are with one another in those situations.
04:49So I think it's just a testament to that.
04:50And then everybody had one ball going tonight.
04:54Anybody else in the room?
04:56I'd like to take a zoom.
04:57Andrew Schlecht, you can go with your question, Andrew.
05:03Yeah, Andrew Schlecht of the Athletic.
05:04I wanted to ask you about that lineup that you closed with.
05:07I don't think that you've played that lineup so far this season.
05:10What led to you wanting to use that lineup?
05:14Use that smaller group?
05:17Desperation, you know?
05:20We're down by, like, I think 17 with six to go.
05:24It's obviously a deficit you can close because we did.
05:27I mean, we had chances to tie the game down there,
05:29down the stretch.
05:31But, like, a lot of things have to go right in order to do that.
05:35And so, you know, I just didn't think
05:37staying conventional there.
05:38I was thinking about trying to win the game, you know,
05:40and staying conventional there probably isn't going to do it.
05:44And, you know, when you're down by 17,
05:45it doesn't matter if you lose by 21 or you lose by 16.
05:48You know, you're just trying to shake it up.
05:51You know, I don't think it's a sustainable thing,
05:53to be honest with you.
05:54It required a ton of pressure and exerted energy
05:58and a little bit of luck.
05:59And, you know, there's a lot there
06:02that went into us closing that sort of gap.
06:06But that was why I made the decision.
06:09And then why tie Jerome in there
06:11instead of, like, a guy like Wiggins
06:14or even, you know, giving Trey Mann that experience?
06:17I mean, I don't know how many minutes Ty played.
06:19He didn't play a ton tonight.
06:20I thought, you know, when we're not playing great,
06:23I try to give different guys opportunities.
06:24I think that's good for chemistry.
06:26I think it keeps everybody sharp and everybody ready.
06:29Ty's done a good job of staying ready.
06:31And I thought he played really well there down the stretch.
06:33I thought he was really good in defensive rotations.
06:36He made a couple plays.
06:38You know, so just shaking it up a little bit
06:41and giving different guys opportunities,
06:43especially when we're not playing great.
06:46We'll go to Daniel Bell now with the last question.
06:48Go ahead, Daniel, with your question.
06:50Yeah, Coach, they're at the end with,
06:52I think it was like 9.9 seconds left
06:54after they hit both free throws.
06:56I know you had to make a quick decision,
06:57but how much thought was it to call a timeout
07:01and advance the ball to end
07:03instead of throwing it in immediately?
07:09Good question.
07:11I think, you know, the thinking there is,
07:14you know, we have a play for that situation
07:16where we open the floor up.
07:17It assures that you get Shea the ball,
07:19and that's something that was a priority for me on that play.
07:23Nine seconds is enough time to go get a quick two
07:25and still foul because we had one timeout.
07:28And, you know, if you end up taking a three,
07:30you've got the right guy shooting it in that situation.
07:34The other thing that I think gets introduced
07:36is a lot of teams in that situation will foul up three,
07:40and, you know, the other thing, Daniel,
07:44is they can't take Vucevic off the floor.
07:45They leave Vucevic in the game.
07:47If you call the timeout, they take Vucevic off the floor.
07:49They insert a smaller lineup.
07:50They switch all your action,
07:52so you keep a guy out there that you want out there.
07:56And then the last part is teams will foul up three,
07:58and, you know, if they foul up three there,
08:01you go to the line, Shea knocks down two shots.
08:04They're out of timeouts
08:05because they burned all their timeouts,
08:06and now they've got to go the length of the floor
08:07against pressure.
08:09And then even if you foul them,
08:11you still have your extra timeout that you save
08:14to advance the ball up the floor and go win the game,
08:16but you just kind of extend the game there.
08:18So I think when you factor all that in,
08:21you know, we certainly were rolling the dice there,
08:23obviously, but it just shows trust in Shea,
08:26and, you know, I thought he got a decent look
08:28for the situation.
08:31Thank you, Coach. All right.