Bulls claw and fight their way back to make it deer season in overtime

It would have been very easy for Billy Donovan to focus on the now, especially with Wednesday’s 119-113 signature overtime win over Milwaukee at the United Center.

After all, to come back from 11 down with just over three minutes left in regulation and get the W spoke volumes.

“I think our compete level was really high,’’ Donovan said of his team’s resiliency. “Our guys stayed together and kept battling, kept fighting, and I give them credit.’’

Especially considering the Bulls (15-19) now have two wins each over the Bucks, Heat and Celtics, as well as a win over a suddenly streaking Brooklyn team.

“The record against the better teams shows that, and the record against teams under .500 show it, so if we come with the same mentality I think we’ll be alright,’’ guard Zach LaVine said. “We’ve got a lot of confident guys and we have confidence in each other.’’

But there’s that other side of this team, and that’s what was still eating at Donovan almost 48 hours after the embarrassing 133-118 loss to the Rockets.

Not just the way his team played, but what was expressed afterward. A lot of “we were looking past’’ the young Houston team, and “we lacked urgency.’’

Even LaVine came out and flat-out said, “They came out playing harder than us.’’

However, rather than pointing the finger solely at his players – especially the veterans in the locker room – for seemingly overlooking Houston, Donovan first blamed himself.

“The thing that really bothered me in the game was I talked about [overlooking the Rockets] in the shootaround, and I feel like I didn’t do a good enough job doing it, to be quite honest,’’ Donovan said. “You can say, ‘Listen, DeMar [DeRozan’s] been in the league for 10-plus years, so has Andre Drummond. Zach LaVine nine years, these guys should know.’ And I’m not sitting here saying they shouldn’t know, I’m not taking any onus off them, but as I look and evaluate myself – because I look at the day – I take responsibility.’’

The preparation was night and day for the Bucks. Donovan made sure of that.

That’s why most of the game was a back-and-forth fight … almost leading to an actual fight.

With 6:55 left in the third and the Bulls trailing by four, Patrick Williams drew the foul by pushing Grayson Allen. Yep, that Grayson Allen.

Allen fell into DeRozan with an apparent forearm, sending DeRozan to the floor, and then quickly up on his feet, having to be restrained by teammates from getting at the former Dukie.

It was Allen who became public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Bulls fans last season, when he all but tackled Alex Caruso in mid-air in a Jan. 21 game, leaving Caruso with a broken wrist and Allen suspended.

Maybe that’s why DeRozan reacted the way he did, but a review led to just a common foul on the Williams shove.

“I just felt the hit,’’ DeRozan said of the incident. “Felt like I went across the middle in a football game and tried to catch a slant route and got hit.’’

When asked if Allen apologized DeRozan said, “No, I wasn’t expecting him too.’’

So why did DeRozan get so angry?

“His track record,’’ Allen said. “If it was Boban [Marjanovic] I wouldn’t have done nothing, but who knows? I don’t know if it was on purpose or what happened. I just felt an excessive hit.’’

Sending DeRozan and the Bulls on an excessive mission to come back and win. And while Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with a ridiculous 45 points and 22 rebounds, DeRozan’s 42 – including 10 of the Bulls’ 13 points in the overtime – proved to be critical in the win.

“That’s the type of player he is,’’ LaVine said of what DeRozan did on the scoreboard after the Allen incident. “You don’t want to fire up someone like that.’’