Bulls forward Torrey Craig thought it would be a great idea to throw himself a lob off the backboard with his team down nine against the Knicks on Tuesday. The only problem was that his teammate, Andre Drummond, thought the lob was for him.
So the big man skied for the ball, bumped into Craig as they both collapsed to the floor, and wasted what should have been an easy two points.
On the defensive possession after the botched highlight play, Drummond rolled his left ankle and exited the game in a wheelchair. The Bulls went on to lose the game 128-117.
“I just wanted to create some excitement and try to give us the edge,” Craig said. “Try to create some momentum for us. Obviously, I didn’t know Drum was going to jump after it with me.
“So it was a miscommunication, or a misinterpretation or whatever. But at the end of the day, I’ve just got to dunk the ball or lay it up. So, I’ll take the blame on that.”
Chicago head coach Billy Donovan was not at all pleased about the incident.
“To me, it was just really disappointing,” Donovan said. “You’re down by (9). There was a lot of self-induced things that I thought we contributed to. Not only that play but other plays that maybe weren’t as loud as that. But that play was disappointing to me.”
Bulls guard Coby White made the point that Chicago’s mistakes were hardly limited to that one viral moment.
“We did some really dumb stuff tonight,” White said. “Everybody, not just T. Craig. So we’re not going to sit here and single him out. We’re a team.”
The 37-42 Bulls have now all but assured their sixth losing season in seven years. They will, however, still feature in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
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