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Christian Laettner's "The Shot" inspired Billy Donovan's defensive strategy late vs. Atlanta Hawks

Originally posted on FanNation All Bulls
By Stephen Beslic | Last updated 12/14/22

Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.

This was the mentality Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan had during the final defensive play in their game against the Atlanta Hawks. Unfortunately, it did not pay off as the Hawks scored with 0.5 remaining to come away victorious in overtime, 123-122.

On Tuesday, Donovan spoke out on his team's defensive breakdown that allowed Atlanta to win.

Lessons of the past

In the NBA, rarely is a coaching decision made without some reference to the past. Donovan revealed that the defensive play he called that had big man Nikola Vucevic defending Jalen Johnson, who was inbounding the ball, was meant to keep the latter from issuing a clean pass—a lesson he painfully learned when he was still an assistant with the Kentucky Wildcats in the 1992 NCAA Elite Eight.

"I was on the bench at Kentucky when Christian Laettner made that shot. We had no man on the ball," Donovan said. "We put two guys back and tried to double-team him (Laettner). And, you know, it gave Grant Hill a clear sight for a pass."

"Any time in those situations, you give an inbounds passer clear vision and sight, where there's still a catch-and-shoot situation, it makes it hard," the Bulls' head coach added.

In that fateful possession, the Bulls had Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Javonte Green, and Derrick Jones, Jr.—a quintet the coaching staff felt comfortable having because of their versatility.

"I thought we had a lineup out there that could switch a lot of those actions, which we did do," Donovan said.

However, it did not work out as Hawks rookie AJ Griffin got behind the defense, caught a tough pass, and contorted his body to make a difficult layup as time expired to give the Hawks the thrilling victory.

Painful lesson learned

The loss dropped the Bulls to 11-15, continuing their rollercoaster ride of a season. As painful as the loss was, it was a teaching moment for Donovan as Chicago tries to pick up the pieces and recover against the Knicks on Wednesday.

"The only thing we can learn from that is — in those situations, once you switch all that action — one is you want to take away slip-outs and lobs to the basket, then you want to make sure your man doesn't get behind you," Donovan said. "I think that's kind of what happened on the play."

This article first appeared on FanNation All Bulls and was syndicated with permission.

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