Torrey Craig, a Chicago Bulls big, attempted an alley-oop off the backboard against the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
Andre Drummond knocked the ball free, giving Craig a fast break opportunity. Craig opted to throw an alley-oop over the backboard to himself in an attempt to excite the Bulls, who were down 36-27. Drummond, who was following on the break, believed Craig was passing the ball to him.
What was the result? Drummond almost made a poster of his own colleague. Instead, both players missed the dunk, giving the Knicks the ball back. This would have been a bad look in any situation, but it’s considerably worse when your team is down by nine points.
Craig, Donovan address botched dunk attempt.
Craig immediately regretted his decision, as evidenced by the image above. Following Chicago’s 128-117 loss to New York, the Bulls forward addressed the situation.
“I just wanted to create some excitement and try to give us an edge,” Craig told Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. “Try to generate momentum for us. Obviously, I had no idea Drum was going to jump after it with me. So there was a miscommunication, misinterpretation, or whatever. But, at the end of the day, I just need to dunk or lay up. So I’ll accept the blame for it.”
Billy Donovan, the Bulls’ head coach, was clearly disappointed by the embarrassing incident.
“We addressed it on the bench,” Donovan stated after the game, according to Cody Westerland of Audacy’s The 670 Score. “Obviously, I was disappointed. I won’t get into what I said, but you’re down by ten. There were a number of self-induced things that I believe we contributed to, including not only that play but others that were perhaps not as loud.
“But that play disappointed me. I don’t really care who he threw the ball to. I just don’t think we need to be doing that. I am not going to go over everything I said on the bench, but that is not what I am about, and it is not what we should be about.”
To make matters worse, Andre Drummond suffered an injury and had to leave the game. It was unquestionably a terrible night for Chicago.
Bulls still going to the NBA Play-In Tournament
The Bulls dropped to 37-42 after the loss against the Knicks. Despite their dismal record, Chicago is the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. They are scheduled to compete in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Overall, the campaign for Chicago has been frustrating. With injuries and underperformance, this Bulls team does not appear to be in contention for the playoffs. However, they will have a chance to advance to the playoffs if they win the play-in event.
Of course, they’ll need to eliminate incidents like Tuesday’s missed alley-oop try. Still, Chicago has the potential to make a postseason run if they can gain momentum ahead of their upcoming play-in game.
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