The Chicago Bulls are in a groove, having won three straight road games, all against tough opponents. Their latest victory came against the Golden State Warriors, a game that required every ounce of effort from the team. While many celebrated the win, Alex Caruso immediately reminded his teammates to stay focused and not get complacent.
As one of the team's veteran players, Caruso knows how easy it is for a team to slip up after a few wins. He has been through it before and doesn't want history to repeat itself. The Bulls have their eyes set on making the playoffs this year; every game matters.
Big-picture mentality
The Bulls are inching closer to the .500 mark at 31-32. Although they remain 3.5 games behind the Indiana Pacers for the eighth seed and 4.5 games behind the Miami Heat for the sixth seed and the outright playoff berth that comes with it, Caruso pointed out they must not lose sight of their goal.
“It feels good, but we’ve got to keep bigger picture,” Caruso said.
The defensive whiz also credited Bulls coach Billy Donovan for helping hammer home the message that they must remain focused and not get too high or too low throughout the season.
“Billy did a good job in Utah at shootaround focusing us in because we were a little too loose going through stretches and stuff, and I think it showed.”
Focus on the details
According to Donovan, the mistakes the Bulls are making now may fly when facing a squad that isn’t one of the elite. However, those same mistakes may haunt Chicago when they face a higher seed in the NBA Playoffs.
“I’ve even talked about the same thing offensively,” Donovan continued.
“OK, it’s great because sometimes you play against a defensive team that isn’t that stout, but OK, is that going to work against a top-five defense? I think that’s the way you have to measure yourself. We talk a lot about that, the stuff that is sustainable in those moments. What’s not sustainable is giving up the number of rebounds we’ve given up, missing out on some of those 50-50 balls.”
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