Gasol: Bulls lacked 'sense of urgency' this season
After putting a scare into the Cleveland Cavaliers during last year's postseason, the Chicago Bulls entered 2015-16 as a potential candidate to capture the Eastern Conference title.
Instead, they enter Saturday night in a "win or go home" scenario, a situation All-Star big man Pau Gasol says Chicago would not be in had they approached the season with a greater sense of desperation.
"There's been times where we dropped games, lost games, that we should never have lost, especially at home against certain teams," Gasol told ESPN's Nick Friedell. "Those are the times that guys don't realize how big of a price that you can pay at the end of the year and how much of a different position you're going to be (in) by those games in November, December, January. 'Ah, there's still 40 games to play, there's still 50 games to play.' No, those games are just as meaningful as the ones we've been playing for the last week or two where our life has been on the line.
"So that's just a lack of sense of urgency, a lack of awareness, a lack of maturity that we have dealt with."
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With three games remaining, Chicago must win out and hope the Indiana Pacers drop their final three contests in order to earn a playoff berth. While the odds are clearly not in the Bulls' favor, Gasol remains focused on taking the season's final week one game at a time.
"So disappointment? For sure. It's still not over. Just focus on tonight and try to beat Cleveland."