Key Notes: Bulls Defensive Woes, Giddey, Turner, Ivey

The Taurus face the Pistons tonight and they will look to bounce back from two woeful defensive performances. After giving up 144 points to Cleveland on Friday, they surrendered 143 in a 36-point loss to Houston.

“It’s just a competition thing; you have to compete at a higher level,” guard Coby White said, per Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun Times. “We’ve got to be more physical. We’ve got to make a stand; giving up 140-plus in back-to-back games is unacceptable. It’s embarrassing, it’s a disservice to the organization, a disservice to the fan base.”

Chicago dropped to 5-9 with the loss.

“We have to be much tougher collectively,” wing Zach LaVine said. “We just can’t let it snowball like it did (Sunday). We’ve been playing well all year and competing. (Sunday) was the opposite of that.”

We have several from the central department:

• One of the defensive issues for the Bulls is that opponents have been targeting offseason acquisitions Josh Giddey. The team’s defensive rating has been significantly worse with Giddey on the floor, Williams notes. “We have to get better at being able to do more things and we have to help him find solutions,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Then the other part of it is that he has to execute. We have to be able to execute the things that we’re in. We have to help give him where he has more things that he can do , and the ability to move in and out of set pieces or timeouts to change coverage.”
• Pacers big man Myles Turnera free agent after the season, had been disappointed with his approach in recent days, Alex Golden tweets. He erupted for 34 points and nine rebounds in a win over Miami on Sunday after two subpar outings. “Publicly, I didn’t like my attitude the last few days,” he said. “You’ve got to be an energizer and take responsibility, but I feel like I’ve been kind of a drain on my own emotions…that type of (thing) is just negative. It was obviously a great game that just grew as leader, grew as a man. You can’t put that stuff out into the universe, but I’ll hold myself accountable for it.” Turner sat out the second game of a back-to-back on Monday because of calf soreness.
• Jaden Iveywho is eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer, had a season-high 28 points and eight assists in a win over Washington on Sunday. Stamps coach JB Bickerstaff has been impressed with Ivey’s play this season. “He can hurt you in so many different ways,” said Bickerstaff. “He can get to the basket at will. He does a great job of finding his teammates when people want to commit two bodies to him. And then he gets most possessions full court. So he puts his head off the snake mentality also for our defense.”