The Chicago Bulls will seek to keep their longshot hopes alive of a .500 season and a possible back door into the Eastern Conference play-in tournament when they continue a Western swing against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night.
The Bulls lost 11 in a row — every game they played in February — to fall to 24-36 and were tailspinning into the depths of the lottery race before winning two of their last three, each against a playoff contender. Chicago enters Sunday’s game 5 1/2 games behind Charlotte for the last play-in spot.
Their improved play continued Thursday night when they opened a five-game trip with a 105-103 win at Phoenix.
Asked by reporters in Arizona why his team would be trying to win when many other losing clubs are being accused of tanking to improve draft position, coach Billy Donovan said simply: Winning is more fun.
“I want to win,” he insisted after a win that did more to damage the Suns’ playoff positioning than it did to help the Bulls’ predicament. “You’re competing to try and win, so absolutely you always want to do a good job and you want to be in position to win basketball games. It’s a result-oriented business.”
Acquired from Charlotte at the trade deadline after averaging career lows in points (14.2) and minutes (22.3) per game, Collin Sexton had his best game as a Bull against the Suns, going for a season-high 30 points in a season-high 38 minutes.
The veteran has topped 20 points in each of his last three games, including contributing 22 to a 120-97 home win over Milwaukee last Sunday that ignited the recent stretch of improved play.
The Kings haven’t seen Sexton this season. They have yet to play the Hornets — his previous team — and he was still with Charlotte when Sacramento visited Chicago in October and suffered a 126-113 loss to a Bulls team led then by Nikola Vucevic (13 points, 14 rebounds), Josh Giddey (20 points, 12 assists) and Matas Buzelis (27 points).
Vucevic has since been traded to the Boston Celtics, while Giddey and Buzelis both sat out the Phoenix game with ankle injuries suffered Tuesday against Oklahoma City. Giddey and Buzelis are both questionable for Sunday’s game.
The Kings have lost three in a row, including two straight to open a five-game homestand. Their 133-123 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday allowed them to earn the distinction of being the league’s first 50-game loser.
Russell Westbrook put up a 19-point, 10-assist double-double against the Pelicans, then insisted afterward his team is not intentionally trying to lose games, despite what some media sources are claiming.
“You guys’ job is to talk about the game, what’s happening in the game, not stir up a bunch of (stuff). It’s not accurate,” he demanded to reporters. “Y’all come in, y’all make your comments, and nobody say nothing. But I don’t have to sit back and say nothing.
“As a leader of this team, it’s my job to speak up for the guys in the locker room. You guys are making false comments about our team and what we’re doing here, and I don’t appreciate that. So my ask is that you respect what we do and we’ll respect what you do.”
The Kings have won just twice in their last 22 games.
