Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine is not a happy camper after being pulled from Friday night’s game against the Miami Heat in the first quarter for what head coach head coach Jim Boylen termed “three egregious defensive mistakes.”
“I thought, ‘He needs a break,’” Boylen said, via Yahoo! Sports. “I thought he needed to come in and think about it. I felt there were some defensive mistakes that didn’t need to be made. I thought he needed to come over and think about it for a minute.”
LaVine, who is arguably the best player on Chicago’s roster, felt singled out and strong disagreed with his head coach.
Zach LaVine on whether he felt singled out: “If you just pull me, yeah.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) November 23, 2019
Told that Boylen said he made "3 egregious defensive mistakes," LaVine said: "Zach LaVine got 13 points scored on him, I guess. Or was it the starting 5? I don’t remember. I thought I was trying to do my job out there."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) November 23, 2019
LaVine: "I don’t remember seeing three egregious mistakes. I think I was supposed to show on one. And I didn’t. I told him because Jimmy doesn’t usually set screens. He slips out of them. I didn’t want to show and have him cut right to the basket. The other two, I don’t know."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) November 23, 2019
As frustrated as LaVine may be, it’s clear to anyone watching that he’s regressed from just a season ago.
A year removed from averaging a career-high 23.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists and being in All-Star contention, LaVine is averaging just 19.8 points this season and shooting 40.9 percent from the field this year. And his defense? Yeah, it’s been lacking.
