Trap game? Bulls hope so coming out of the loss to Luka and the Mavs

DALLAS – The offense is going to come around.

DeMar DeRozan has to keep telling himself that. Heck, the Bulls veteran forward has to keep telling everyone in the locker room that to make sure frustration doesn’t turn into panic.

Because through the first five games of the regular season, it really couldn’t get much worse.

The Bulls came out of the loss to Dallas with only five other teams in the league averaging less than their 105.4 points per game, only two shooting worse from the field (42.6%) and from three-point range (30.2%) and remained bottom five in three-point attempts with 31.8 per game.

Starting forward Patrick Williams was still putting up box scores with a zero in it – two in his last three games – while the bench scoring remains sporadic.

Yeah, so it’s got to get better.

“Everybody wants to make shots for sure right now, everybody wants the best, but it’s going to come,’’ DeRozan promised. “I would rather start off this way than start off hot and you realize that at some point you’ve got to cool down. (The shots) haven’t fallen, but when they do fall your confidence is going to be higher because you fought through the rough patch.’’

And while the Bulls continue macheting their way through those thick weeds and brush, low and behold they might have stumbled onto something that is sustainable from night to night.

Playing defense has been this team’s calling card the past few seasons, but facing all-everything guard Luka Doncic on Wednesday, they also went into a heavy trap game, looking to get the ball out of Doncic’s hands, force turnovers and frustrate him.

According to Alex Caruso, a game plan that has staying power for more than just Doncic.

“This is the first time we’ve thrown some type of trap scheme, putting two on the ball on good players to start the year, so obviously we can get better from it,’’ Caruso said. “We can grow from it.

“That’s kind of what you have to do with great players, and (Doncic’s) all of that in one. I thought for the most part we kept him off rhythm, didn’t foul him too much and get him going to the free throw line.’’

Considering Doncic came into the game with the Bulls averaging just under 40 points per game for the undefeated Mavericks, it’s safe to say that Caruso & Co. had a successful showing in disrupting his rhythm in his 18-point night.

And the other takeaway was it wasn’t just Caruso that was thrown at Doncic.

Williams was on him to start the game, then Caruso, Coby White got a few chances, and Torrey Craig, all the while keeping a physical mentality against Doncic on the ball, turning him into the double-team and blitzes.  

“We’ve got it and you see it,’’ DeRozan said of the amount of defensive-minded players this year’s team can throw at the opposition. “We’ve got Pat, T-Craig, AC … We’ve got a couple guys that can guard one through four, shutdown defenders, and that’s big to have on your team.’’

Especially for a team that’s struggling on the offensive end like the Bulls, it’s more than just big. It is the life preserver they all must cling to until the offense does start turning it around.

“We return a lot of the same team from last year, and everyone knows we had a really good defensive year in the second half, later part of the year, so just trying to grow off that momentum,’’ Caruso said. “We picked up Jevon (Carter) and T-Craig, and everyone knows Drum’s (Andre Drummond) reputation of blocks, getting steals, and Ayo (Dosunmu) is waiting in the wings too, so we’ve got a lot bodies we can throw at you, give different looks and keep fresh legs on you.’’