"Us competing and playing together is just the price of admission to get into the event. That doesn't guarantee a win, that guarantees that we'll be in the game competitively."

Bulls head coach Billy Donovan's message was loud and clear at the Advocate Center on Friday, ahead of Chicago matchup with that Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Donovan, after spending most of the media session discussing the injury updates for his starting backcourt, broke down what he wanted to see from the squad moving forward, with their current four-game losing streak no doubt the driving force behind these statements.

"For us defensively...it's running back in transition, and understanding that when a guy's on an island in a one-on-one situation with a guy coming full speed at him, there needs to be fills and shifts and helps and loads in there, and not being worried necessarily about running to get your matchup."

Donovan was, of course, very displeased with the Bulls 124-113 loss to the shorthanded Detroit Pistons. In that loss, Detroit shot 56% from the field and scored 66 points in the paint. Chicago also conceded 21 points off turnovers, showcasing a lack of attention to detail against a Pistons squad that was hungry to prove itself to their coaching staff. Donovan spoke to the loss to Detroit being about the "controllables."

"Last game we turned the ball over 21 times, we were 19-for-28 from the free throw line, and we gave up 33  rim shots. You are not winning. We do that, we are not winning any games...these are things that we have to do. And they are controllable things."

Chicago's rim protection or lack thereof might not be much of an issue against a Utah Jazz team that ranks in the bottom-10 in terms of percentage of total team points coming from points in the paint. The Jazz prefer to left it fly from 3-point range--8th in 3-point FGAs per game (40.4)--but they have a 7-foot-1 forward who can get to the rim in Lauri Markkanen, and the Bulls will need to load up early to prevent his forays to the rim. The Bulls don't have traditional rim protectors on the roster, but Donovan doesn't see that as something that should deter the team from playing fundamentally sound defense, something that will likely persist as the theme of this road trip.

As Donovan stated on Friday, "..Listen, we're not gonna to have a lot of shot blocking back there, which is fine, but we need to have guys back there that are gonna be able to meet those rolls a little bit earlier than we did."

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