Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is looking at a glass of water. If he was pessimistic he would say it is half empty. If he was an optimist he would say it was half full.

However, Donovan is a realist and looks at it as just a half a glass of water.

The coach gave his postgame press conference after the loss to the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. He believes that his team did not earn the right to claim a victory in that game because they did not play with any desperation.

He called it like he saw it. His team was just not desperate enough or hungry enough to fight for the win. They simply did not earn anything.

"I am a big believer that you get what you earn, and we did not do anything to earn it," Donovan said. "Not taking anything away from Detroit, but all the way around from myself, the coaches, the players, they were just better all the way around."

Donovan spoke about how open the Eastern Conference is this season and that it is ripe for the taking. He said until his team shows desperation and earns the right not to be desperate, they will have no chance to be successful. 

"We are not good enough to just go out there against any team and not earn it. We are just not," Donovan said. "I think we certainly put ourselves in a much better position under good teams. We earned the opportunity down the stretch where we can look back at some of these games and say we had a chance."

The Bulls made a comeback in the fourth quarter before bowing to the Pistons 124-113. He liked what he saw at the end, but said you have to play good defense for four quarters to win a game in the NBA.

"We made a valiant dash towards the end to make a run at it, but you can't play defense for part of the game and expect to win. It just does not work like that," Donovan said. "Every team is trying to establish an identity. They did what we expected them to do. They are active with their hands and we had nine turnovers in the first half. You get what you earn and you earn things."

Donovan spoke a lot about having to earn things in the NBA and that nothing is handed out. He said his team is simply not good enough to get something that they do not earn.

"The NBA is the most competitive league in the world and you have to earn stuff," Donovan said. "We are not in a good enough position to just think that if we do not play desperate, there was no desperation and we must be desperate. We are not talented enough not to be desperate.

"There was absolutely no desperation from what I saw. We have to be desperate and I feel like up to this point in time, we have played with that mentality. If we don't play with that mentality, that is what we look like."

Donovan said the Pistons came out and did exactly what they showed on film. Even knowing how they were going to play, and not having four of their starters playing, the Bulls were still playing at slower pace.

"They were all over the glass in the first quarter. They did not do anything that they did not do all year long. It's how they play," Donovan said. "They did a really good job and they deserved to win the game."

The Bulls will next travel to face the Utah Jazz on Sunday, Oct. 16. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. central.

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