Zach LaVine is grinding through another disappointing season with the Chicago Bulls, and he was openly frustrated with head coach Jim Boylen late in Saturday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns.
The Bulls fell to 19-38 on the season with another rough performance at home, and LaVine appeared to think the loss took a little longer than it needed to. After the Suns extended their lead to 112-102 with just over 30 seconds remaining, Boyle decided to call a timeout. It was actually LaVine who signaled for the timeout, but it clearly wasn’t his decision. This video made that quite obvious:
Just got home saw a tweet about Zach Being annoyed again about a Boylen timeout. After the timeout Zach shakes his head and seems to say "why call a timeout down F'ing 10" pic.twitter.com/lV4HH356Wb
— arcusD (@_MarcusD3_) February 23, 2020
The Bulls had a 17-point lead at one time in the game, but they fell apart down the stretch. They have done that quite a bit over the past two seasons, and LaVine apparently felt calling a timeout down four possessions that late was just delaying the inevitable. Either that, or he thought the Bulls should play faster and save the timeouts. The former seems a lot more likely.
LaVine has had some ups and downs with Boylen since Boylen took over for former Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg. LaVine, who is averaging 25.1 points per game this season, was vocal about his displeasure with Boylen early in the season after the star point guard was pulled for playing bad defense. As the losses continue to pile up, the tension will probably increase.
