Bulls fall to the Pelicans and big man Zion Williamson as the stalls of the season

This felt like a moment in the season for the Bulls to start helping the front office make up their minds.

Four consecutive winnable games that could have pushed the Bulls above .500, starting with a home game Tuesday against the underachieving Pelicans, who entered the game with just eight wins.

There was just one problem—and a 290-pound one at that. Zion Williamson was back in the mix for the Pelicans.

Williamson, playing in just his ninth game of the season, scored 21 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed seven rebounds as the Pelicans beat the Bulls 119-113.

”I mean, that guy’s a force,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine said. ”You know he’s going left, (but) you can’t stop it. He overpowers guys, but (it’s) his unselfishness. I think he did it (score-wise). He could easily hit the little turn, but he invited the double team, waited for the rotations and hit the right guy.”

It was the opposite of what the Bulls did. They committed 15 turnovers that led to 28 points for the Pelicans and were indecisive offensively.

”(The Pelicans) did a good job of switching,” coach Billy Donovan said of the Bulls’ indecisiveness. ”We’ve seen it before, but we kind of held back, didn’t get to the next action or create a situation where there was some confusion where we could break away and create some penetration. I thought we were standing still.”

That possibly speaks to an even bigger problem at the Feb. 6 trade deadline, and the front office also seems indecisive.

Falling to 18-22 and losing to a bottom-feeding team again should scream the obvious, but it remains to be seen.

All Donovan was concerned about was trying to defend Williamson, who showed all of his skills in the fourth quarter of a close game.

First, Williamson cut to the hoop with the ball, but found a wide-open Jose Alvarado in the corner for a three-pointer that put the Pelicans ahead by five. Ten seconds later, it was that combo again, with Williamson finding Alvarado with a no-look, back-to-back pass for another three.

It’s that arsenal of weapons that impressed Donovan.

”He’s a skilled player from the standpoint that he’s as big and strong as he is and very skilled with the basketball,” Donovan said. ”He can put the ball on the floor, he can handle and he can create. I think he’s a very underrated passer. I think he has a vision. I think he’s watching plays. He plays the game the right way. For a good part of the season, he has battled injuries. But since he’s come back, he’s been very impressive.”

Another example was the nine-foot floater he scored on in the fourth to put the Pelicans ahead by eight.

And just to make sure the Bulls didn’t have anything sweet up their sleeves, Williamson checked back into the game with about four minutes remaining and quickly helped extend the lead to 15 with an acrobatic drive to the hoop that he also fouled. .

However, the Bulls made one last run. LaVine made a three-pointer and the Bulls had a chance to cut the deficit to one after a steal from Lonzo Ball. But Coby White missed an open three from the corner and the Pelicans’ Trey Murphy iced the game from the free throw line to hand the Bulls their second straight loss.

”We were trying to get back in the game,” LaVine said of the late push. ”Guys really wanted it and we were close to making a little miracle happen.”