Bulls’ Zach LaVine on Benching: ‘You Play a Guy Like Me Down the Stretch’

The two-time All-Star disagreed with Billy Donovan’s decision to keep him on the pine amid a dismal shooting night.

Bulls guard Zach LaVine spent the final 3 minutes and 43 seconds of Friday night’s game against the Magic on the bench after a dreadful shooting night. At the time, Chicago was trying to rally from a double-digit deficit, an effort that LaVine said he could have helped with after the team’s 108–107 loss.

“I got to do a better job at the beginning of the game to make my shots, but you play a guy like me down the stretch,” LaVine told reporters. “That’s what I do. Do I like the decision? No. Do I have to live with it? Yeah. Be ready to put my shoes on and play the next game.”

LaVine, who’s been named an All-Star in each of the last two seasons, finished the game 1-for-14 from the floor with just four points. He posted a team-worst minus-19 when he was on the court Friday.

Zach on getting benched down the stretch pic.twitter.com/rN1NnLOPwY

— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) November 19, 2022

The Bulls nearly mounted a comeback thanks to a 41-point effort from DeMar DeRozan. Second-year guard Ayo Dosunmu played in place of LaVine for the final few minutes, ending the game with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

“I feel like my job, my responsibility in those moments is to try to make the best decisions for the team,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of the decision to leave LaVine on the bench in the closing stages. “And I thought that was the best decision at the time. To me, I don’t look at it as anything else but the one-off game where this is what was going on. I know he wanted to be out there. There’s probably not very many games in his career where [LaVine] hasn’t been out there in those moments, but that group was playing well and it gave us a chance.”

Friday resulted in a season-high fourth consecutive loss for the Bulls, who are now 6–10 on the year.

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