NEW YORK — As the Chicago Bulls stare down the final 27 games of the season, DeMar DeRozan likened the weeks ahead to the hard days of a marriage.
“What’s the saying when you get married? Through sickness and health, you stick through it,” DeRozan said after Thursday’s 116-105 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. “That’s how I look at it when I’m with a group of guys. Through sickness and health, till death do us part.”
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The Bulls are three games below .500 at 26-29 after losing their second straight. Executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas before the game continued to preach consistency after opting not to make a move at the trade deadline, only for the team to lose to the Nets hours later.
Answers will have to come from within.
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The Bulls have failed to string together more than three consecutive wins this season. And while they’re on track to slip into the play-in tournament — they’re in ninth place in the Eastern Conference — losses this week to the Memphis Grizzlies and Nets made it clear how quickly the season can flip in the opposite direction.
The issues are familiar and frustrating: poor 3-point shooting, a lack of energy to start halves, lackluster defense. DeRozan expressed confusion about the source of the Bulls’ inconsistency after nearly two full seasons of the core playing together.
“It is surprising because we do so much great things throughout the game,” said DeRozan, who scored 14 points in the loss. “It just seems like we just can’t sustain it long enough.”
DeRozan repeated belief in his team’s ability to find consistency down the stretch. But urgency has begun to creep into the veteran’s outlook.
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“I look at it like a challenge,” DeRozan said. “Every single day goes by, the less opportunity to be able to take on the challenge. It makes it more difficult and more difficult. The margin for error is getting slimmer and slimmer. …
“We’ve got 27 games now? It’s going to fly. We need every one of these games.”
