Dwyane Wade stared down former teammate Tyler Johnson on the left wing on a crucial fourth-quarter possession Saturday night and it seemed like everyone in the United Center performed their own version of the “Mannequin Challenge”.
The crowd stopped and so did the Bulls bench in anticipation of a signature Wade move. Unfortunately so did everyone else on the floor as the movement stopped, if it ever started.
Wade jabbed and put the ball in Johnson’s face on a swing through, causing an offensive foul, leaving Wade puzzled at the officiating.
And even though it didn’t come back to hurt the Bulls in their 105-100 win over the Miami Heat, the play — and the quarter itself — highlighted a problem for the Bulls that’s seemingly bubbling beneath the surface, as they shot just 40 percent in the fourth and were outscored 25-22.
A lot of times it looks like it’s Wade or Jimmy Butler taking their man off the dribble or bust, which can win more than your share of games but can also put you in a world of trouble when it comes to a margin for error.
“We got into a little bit of a hole but Rajon got us a little bit of a push to get us a couple baskets, a couple free throws,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “That will be the big emphasis and focus in practice on Monday. We will really work on our fourth-quarter execution.”
In a conference where two games separate the third place team in the East with the 10th place team, the margins are thin — and it doesn’t seem likely teams will break apart any time soon.
NBA
Which means the Bulls’ fourth-quarter issues can come back to bite them, sooner rather than later. At 13-10 and on a two-game winning streak, it certainly doesn’t seem like a time for concern, but warning signs were all around in early January last season, when the Bulls were a 22-12 team after beating Boston on national TV, only to wind up missing the playoffs three months later.
“Maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit,” said Hoiberg when asked if it’s becoming mental. “I think early on our pace was still there, and when they made their run we hung our heads a little bit. We’ll get better, we’ll be better.”
The ball stops moving, as evidenced by the Bulls’ 4.0 assists compared to 3.2 turnovers. Even though they’re nowhere near a proficient 3-point shooting team and have stayed away from taking bad shots en masse, they take 6.5 triples in the fourth, a gigantic rise from being in the bottom five for the first three quarters.
They hit those at a predictable 26.2 percent clip, not surprising when players like Nikola Mirotic and Isaiah Canaan have played bulk minutes in Hoiberg’s attempts to spread the floor.
Shooting 37.3 percent in the fourth can’t all be put on the reserves as their struggles have been well-documented but the pressure placed on Wade and Butler usually manifest itself in the final 12 minutes as Wade’s age and Butler’s workload begins to show.
“They had good matchups and Dwyane had it going tonight,” Hoiberg said. “Those isolations have to happen further out on the floor. I think we had three possessions in a row where we missed wide-open shots. We gotta get the ball in a spot on the floor where we can have success.”
As a result, the Bulls are outscored by an average 2.3 points in the fourth. It’s third-worst differential in the NBA behind two bad teams, the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns.
By comparison the Bulls had their share of late struggles last year but were a far more efficient outfit, actually being the best 3-point shooting team in the fourth but were still outscored by nearly a point per game.
Hoiberg is hoping and internally probably begging for Doug McDermott’s return to make those numbers a lot higher, especially from 3-point range where the Bulls are the league’s worst team at attempts, makes and efficiency, almost winning in spite of themselves.
“Getting Doug back helps with our spacing. I’m confident we’ll hit double digit in threes again this season. I can’t tell you exactly when but I’m confident we’ll get there,” Hoiberg said.
Whether the Bulls can continue winning with these two critical pieces working against them seems like it’ll be a miracle.