Chicago plays like a child ‘touching a hot stove’
The The Chicago Bulls head into an interconference matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans in need of urgencyand the night immediately showed itself why Bulls players ran into the same problems Billy Donovan warned aboutwith Aio Dosunmu later remembering those reminders after a 130-143 loss to the Pelicans. The Bulls didn’t just struggle. She repeated every mistake that plagued his start, even as Donovan tried to push the group toward physicality, discipline and consistency.
Pelicans didn’t have to dig deep to find openings. They controlled the glass, beat the Bulls to turnovers, and exposed slow rotations and unfocused possessions. Under the lights, the Bulls’ problems weren’t subtle. They were loud. And they were familiar to anyone who heard Donovan preach the same points week after week.
Ayo Dosunmu was the only Bulls player to finish with a positive statistical resultthe lone player with a non-negative plus-minus. And he sounded like someone who heard every warning Donovan gave.
“Coach tells us a thousand times to fight,” the Bulls guard said. “On film, we go to the glass, we don’t box, we just stand. Coach tells us to get on the ball. Coach tells us what we have to do to play physical. And we do that sometimes in the game, but we don’t do it the whole game. (Donovan is) being completely honest with us. He tells us to do this if we don’t get the results.”
He then delivered a layup that cut the Bulls short. “We keep saying the stove is hot, and we keep touching the stove.”
Lesson from the Bulls not yet learned
The Bulls now sit with a loss that is heavier than the score suggests. The message has not changed. The results have not changed. And Billy Donovan knows the clock is ticking on a team that burns the same way every night.
The only question that fans keep asking remains: When will the Bulls finally stop touching the stove?
2025-11-25 15:09:00
