Chicago Bulls guard Collin Sexton vowed to manage his emotions better after receiving a $35,000 fine from the league office for his inappropriate hand gesture during their 123-113 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
Sexton went viral on social media for flipping off the rim after a free throw with 1:31 left in the third period. The Chicago Bulls guard finished with 21 points and five rebounds on 7-for-18 shooting from the field and 6-for-8 shooting from the free throw line in 32 minutes off the bench.
“I gotta continue to calm myself down because I always do get upset when I miss free throws,” Sexton said succinctly via KC Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network.
The Chicago Bulls have gone 0-4 since overhauling their roster during the trade deadline. After losing to the Brooklyn Nets, the team suffered a 124-105 defeat against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, with Nikola Vucevic now on the other side.
Chicago Bulls News: Billy Donovan sends clear message to the team ahead of All-Star break
The Chicago Bulls have yet to win a game since the trade deadline, and head coach Billy Donovan urged the team – especially its new players – to stick together amid their rough patch.
“I do think this group is going to hit the wall. Coming out of the All-Star break, what those last 27 games are going to look like for us physically is going to be a big factor,” Donovan told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ve tried to talk to them about what our focus is and what our direction needs to be inside our team. All that kind of stuff is important, so I’ve tried to redirect their focus onto that: ‘What do we got to do to get better as a team?’”
“I can see people on the outside, ‘Are they really trying to win? What’s with this group?’… Who is going to be back? Who isn’t going to be back? Maybe these guys are auditioning, (or) they really don’t care.’ I still think, inside that locker room, these guys are professionals, and they don’t want to come in every day, work, try and buy in and (say), ‘OK, we’re just going to experiment with all this stuff.’ ” he added.
