Chicago Sports

Friday, January 20, 2023

BIG NORTHERN

Oregon at Byron, 7:00

Rock Falls at North Boone, 7:00

Rockford Christian at Genoa-Kingston, 7:00

Rockford Lutheran at Dixon, 7:00

Stillman Valley at Winnebago, 7:00

CATHOLIC LEAGUE – BLUE

DePaul at Fenwick, 7:00

Loyola at Brother Rice, 7:00

Mount Carmel at Leo, 7:00

CATHOLIC LEAGUE – WHITE

Marmion at Montini, 7:00

St. Laurence at De La Salle, 6:30

CENTRAL SUBURBAN – NORTH

Deerfield at Maine East, 7:00

Highland Park at Niles North, 7:00

Vernon Hills at Maine West, 7:00

CENTRAL SUBURBAN – SOUTH

Evanston at Niles West, 7:00

Glenbrook South at Maine South, 7:00

New Trier at Glenbrook North, 7:00

CHICAGO PREP

Holy Trinity at Cristo Rey, 6:30

Walther Christian at Ellison, 7:00

DU KANE

Geneva at Glenbard North, 7:00

St. Charles East at Lake Park, 7:00

St. Charles North at Wheaton-Warr. South, 7:00

Wheaton North at Batavia, 7:00

DU PAGE VALLEY

DeKalb at Metea Valley, 7:00

Naperville Central at Waubonsie Valley, 7:00

Neuqua Valley at Naperville North, 7:00

EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLIC

Benet at Carmel, 7:00

Joliet Catholic at Marist, 7:00

Nazareth at Marian Catholic, 7:00

St. Patrick at Notre Dame, 7:00

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Hampshire, 7:30

Crystal Lake Central at McHenry, 7:30

Dundee-Crown at Crystal Lake South, 7:30

Jacobs at Cary-Grove, 7:30

Prairie Ridge at Huntley, 7:30

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Lisle at Herscher, 7:00

Peotone at Streator, 6:45

Reed-Custer at Manteno, 7:00

Wilmington at Coal City, 6:30

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Francis Parker at Morgan Park Academy, 4:30

North Shore at Northridge, 6:00

University High at Latin, 6:00

INTERSTATE EIGHT

Rochelle at Morris, 7:00

Sandwich at Plano, 7:00

Sycamore at Ottawa, 7:00

KISHWAUKEE RIVER

Harvard at Marengo, 8:00

Richmond-Burton at Johnsburg, 7:30

Woodstock at Woodstock North, 7:00

LAKE SHORE ATHLETIC

Christian Heritage at Wolcott, 5:30

Roycemore at Horizon-McKinley, CNL

LITTLE TEN

IMSA at DePue, 7:00

METRO SUBURBAN – BLUE

IC Catholic at Chicago Christian, 7:00

METRO SUBURBAN – RED

Aurora Central at St. Edward, 7:00

Elmwood Park at McNamara, 7:30

Ridgewood at Westmont, 7:30

NIC – 10

Auburn at Freeport, 7:30

Belvidere at Rockford East, 7:30

Belvidere North at Boylan, 7:15

Guilford at Jefferson, 7:15

Hononegah at Harlem, 7:30

NORTH SUBURBAN

Lake Forest at Waukegan, 7:00

Lake Zurich at Stevenson, 7:00

Libertyville at Warren, 7:00

Zion-Benton at Mundelein, 7:00

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Our Lady Sacred Heart at Alden-Hebron, 5:30

Westminster Christian at Christian Life, 7:30

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Grayslake Central at Wauconda, 7:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE RED-WEST / NORTH

Clark at Lincoln Park, 6:30

Farragut at Westinghouse, 5:00

Lane at Young, 7:00

North Lawndale at Prosser, 6:30

Perspectives-MSA at Orr, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-NORTH

Amundsen at Northside, 5:00

Schurz at Sullivan, 5:00

Senn at Lake View, 5:00

Taft at Foreman, 6:30

Von Steuben at Mather, 6:30

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-WEST

Austin at Legal Prep, 5:00

Crane at Ogden, 7:00

Jones at Raby, 5:00

Marshall at Collins, 5:00

Wells at Payton, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-NORTH

Alcott at Chicago Academy, 5:00

ASPIRA-Bus&Fin at Steinmetz, 5:00

Chicago Math & Science at Intrinsic-Belmont, 5:00

Disney at Roosevelt, 5:00

North-Grand at Marine, 5:00

Uplift at Rickover, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-WEST

Chicago Collegiate at Clemente, 5:00

Chicago Tech at Spry, 5:00

Juarez at Douglass, 5:00

Kelvyn Park at Phoenix, 5:00

Manley at Little Village, 5:00

RIVER VALLEY

Beecher at Grace Christian, 7:00

Clifton Central at Gardner-So. Wilmington, 6:45

Illinois Lutheran at Donovan, 7:00

Momence at Tri-Point, 7:00

St. Anne at Grant Park, 7:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – BLUE

Bremen at Thornton Fr. South, 7:00

Lemont at Oak Forest, 6:30

Tinley Park at Hillcrest, 6:30

SOUTH SUBURBAN – RED

Oak Lawn at Shepard, 6:30

SOUTHLAND

Bloom at Thornton, 6:30

Thornwood at Thornridge, 6:00

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE – CROSSOVER

Minooka at Joliet Central, 6:30

Oswego at Plainfield East, 6:30

Oswego East at Plainfield South, 6:30

Plainfield North at Plainfield Central, 6:30

West Aurora at Romeoville, 6:30

Yorkville at Joliet West, 6:30

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – BLUE

Homewood-Flossmoor at Sandburg, 7:30

Lockport at Lincoln-Way East, 6:30

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Lincoln-Way West at Bolingbrook, 7:00

TRI-COUNTY

Marquette at Henry-Senachwine, 7:00

Putnam County at Midland, 7:00

Seneca at Roanoke-Benson, 7:30

Woodland at Lowpoint-Washburn, 7:30

WEST SUBURBAN – GOLD

Downers Grove South d. Proviso East, FFT

Willowbrook at Addison Trail, 7:30

WEST SUBURBAN – SILVER

Downers Grove North at York, 7:30

Lyons at Hinsdale Central, 7:30

NON CONFERENCE

Carver at UC-Woodlawn, 5:00

Crossroads Christian at Schaumburg Christian, 6:30

DRW Prep at Providence-St. Mel, 5:30

Elgin Academy at Lake Forest Academy, 6:00

Elgin at Kaneland, 7:00

Hansberry at Comer, 12:00

Horizon-Southwest at LaSalette, 7:00

Illiana Christian (IN) at Timothy Christian, 7:30

Kankakee at Centennial, 6:30

Kenwood vs. Camden (NJ), at McGrath-Phillips, 7:

Lake County Baptist at Cristo Rey-St. Martin, 7:00

Morgan Park at St. Viator, 7:30

Muchin at Kennedy, 6:45

Rauner at Islamic Foundation, 4:30

St. Francis de Sales at Providence, 6:00

St. Ignatius at Christ the King, 7:00

Unity Christian at Horizon-McKinley, 5:30

Universal at Southland, 7:00

METAMORA

Bogan vs. Metamora, 7:30

QUINCY

Curie vs. Oak Hill Faith Family (TX), 4:00

St. Rita vs. Modesto Christian (CA), 8:30

SALEM

Mt. Vernon vs. Carbondale, 6:30

East St. Louis vs. Thornton Fr. North, 8:00

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Chicago actor Netta Walker found her groove in Chicago theater in 2018-19 with a run of performances which received fine notices all around.

Walker portrayed a conflicted Ophelia in Monty Cole’s ambitious “Hamlet” at Gift Theatre, a lovely Mrs. Darcy in Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s “The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley” and a troubled young woman named Jennifer in Anna Jordan’s tough drama “Yen” at Raven Theatre, a role for which she won a Jeff Award.

When the pandemic brought everything to a halt, including every theater in town, Walker’s talent continued to take her to new places. Hunkered down in her Logan Square apartment, Walker submitted an audition video for “All American: Homecoming,” a college-age spinoff of the popular CW high school drama “All American.”

“I thought it would be another one of the auditions I sent off and never heard back about,” Walker recalls, in a phone conversation from Los Angeles.

But she did hear back and was cast as Keisha McCalla, a dance student and dorm RA at fictional Bringston University, an HBCU in Atlanta. Always trying to help fix her friends’ problems, she is known as the “mayor of Bringston.”

“Keisha just makes sense to me,” says Walker, 26. “She’s confident in who she is and not afraid to express herself. She’s very driven and like everyone else she makes mistakes, but she also wants to resolve those mistakes.”

And while Keisha is the glue that holds her friends together as they face the ups and downs of college life, the character will face some challenges of her own in a larger story arc when the show resumes its second season at 8 p.m. Monday on WCIU-Channel 26.

Walker won’t give anything away but does say Keisha comes face-to-face with the “hard work and stress level of being a dancer in a conservatory program. You see what that does to her.”

Walker grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, the youngest of four (she has three older brothers). They were military kids; her African-American father met her mother while stationed in the Philippines.

Filipino culture remains an important element in Walker’s life — and in Keisha’s life as well, as the show at times puts her Filipino heritage to the forefront of storylines.

“The willingness to honor and explore Filipino culture was something I’d never seen before,” Walker says, adding, “I was able to collaborate with the writers on what Filipino culture really looks like.”

Walker took dance and voice lessons growing up. But it wasn’t until high school, when she admits to “doing things I shouldn’t have been doing and getting in trouble,” that a drama teacher, Shirley Sacks, helped guide her toward the path that would eventually land her in Roosevelt University’s Performing Arts program.

“She saw me really floundering, trying to figure out my life, and she saved me,” Walker says. “Her classes were incredibly detailed and academic. I felt very attached to theater.”

Walker acknowledges that every play she did was special in its own way, but that “Yen” was “a really special experience and the most emotionally draining show I’ve done.”

In the visceral drama, Walker’s Jennifer is the light that brings out the humanity in a pair of toxic teenage brothers living alone in a West London flat.

“Netta blew me away with her commitment,” recalls “Yen” director Elly Green. “She brought so much of herself to that role: unafraid to be goofy, raw and tender all at once. The play tackled difficult subjects, and Netta brought curiosity and sensitivity to the process.”

It was after winning the Jeff in 2019 that Walker voiced via Facebook her complaints about discrimination and abuse that she said she and other students experienced in Roosevelt’s performing arts program. The post and the hundreds of comments that followed resulted in changes at the university, including the ouster of a faculty member who was the focus of the complaints.

Walker says she carries that learning experience with her as she transitions to work in a new industry and a new environment that she acknowledges has “a big learning curve.”

“Thankfully I got my start in Chicago with all the artists who supported me and made me feel that my voice and my opinions and my experiences were valid to talk about. I feel confident in saying what I need to say.

“But I still think I’m learning; I’m still tripping over myself; I’m still pretty young in my communication skills. But my knowledge in knowing what is morally right or wrong and being able to stand up and speak up when I have to is strong. I think I would feel more afraid if I hadn’t had that experience in Chicago.”

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“Chicago Fire” will be absent one of its most beloved firefighters this season.

Actor Taylor Kinney, who has starred as Lt. Kelly Severide since the Dick Wolf-helmed hit series premiered on NBC in 2012. is taking time away from the show to “deal with a personal matter,” Deadline.com first reported on Friday. The story also notes that episodes may have to be rewritten to accommodate Severide’s absence.

Kinney, 41, has been a familiar face in Chicago off-screen as well. In a 2022 interview on the “Today” show, the actor declared his love for the city and affectionately referred to Chicago as “home.” According to one report, Kinney purchased a $1.2 million condo on the Near West Side in 2017.

Most famously, in 2016, he and then fiancee Lady Gaga participated in the annual Polar Plunge at North Avenue Beach along with other cast members from “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.” and “Chicago Med.” The three series — all created by Wolf — made Wednesday night a must-see TV phenomenon affectionately known as One Chicago Wednesdays.

“Chicago Fire” saw the exit of another major player in 2021 when actor Jesse Spencer, who portrayed Kinney’s best friend, Capt. Matthew Casey, departed the show after nearly 10 years.

No word on how long Kinney will be away from the series.

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The company that operates the Des Plaines Theatre has canceled a Feb. 8 event booked at the city-owned venue by conservative groups after LGBTQ advocates encouraged the city to stop it.

Onesti Entertainment CEO Ron Onesti did not explicitly give a reason for the cancellation in a statement Thursday night, but he referred to the controversy and suggested he and the theater received threats.

“What saddens me was the amount of hate that surfaced during all of this,” he wrote. “People mailing bullets to me, asking their neighbors to fill my garbage cans with dog feces, countless hateful calls and outwardly targeting the Des Plaines Theatre, wishing its demise. And how would that have been good for the community?”

On Wednesday he had defended leasing the venue to the group that’s been criticized for making queerphobic social media posts and other controversial statements. That came after LGBTQ advocates criticized the groups behind the Feb. 8 event — especially DuPage County-based Awake Illinois — and some of the scheduled speakers.

Onesti described himself as a proponent of the First Amendment and said Awake Illinois has the right to hold meetings and discuss the issues it pleases. “It’s not for me to be judge and jury,” Onesti said.

Several city officials, including Mayor Andrew Goczkowski, said they shared audience members’ concerns about the event but said they couldn’t demand that Onesti cancel the gathering. But he and other officials also said they’d seek to talk with Onesti about the types of events and groups the theater hosts.

“There’s no place for politics in a building that’s publicly owned,” Goczkowski said.

Called “Out of the Echo Chamber: Coalition for Kids,” the event was open to anyone for a $5 donation. Awake Illinois’ website described the event as “a diverse group of advocates (gathering) together to transform the conversation on issues affecting children.”

The speaker lineup included Jaimee Michell, founder of a group called Gays Against Groomers; Stephanie Trussell, recent Republican candidate for lieutenant governor; Shannon Adcock, founder of Awake Illinois and a leader of Moms for Liberty DuPage; and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Dubiel.

Awake has railed against suburban drag events, medical treatments for transgender youth and the state’s new sex education standards, among other topics.

Read more at dailyherald.com.

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The Illinois High School Association has suspended multiple players and forced three high school basketball teams to forfeit games due to fights that occured during games last week.

The altercations occured at the Curie vs. Proviso East game at TF North on Jan. 15 and Christ the King vs. Hope Academy on Jan. 13.

Christ The King, Curie and Proviso East were each required to forfeit one future game. Curie forfeited its game against Hyde Park on Jan. 17. Christ the King forfeited against Ida Crown and Proviso East has forfeited Friday’s game against Downers Grove South.

Multiple players from the three teams also recevied two-game suspensions based on their conduct during the physical altercations. That is in addition to the one-game suspension originally levied.

“This type of behavior cannot and will not be tolerated in high school athletics,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “Any future incidents involving these schools will result in significantly stiffer penalties, which could include exclusion from competing in the IHSA State Series.”

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PARIS — Billy Donovan wants to believe that something special happened in Paris.

The Bulls coach wants to buy into the idea that almost a week of watching the players and coaching staff having family and friends all together in one city, mingling at team events, and spending time with each other on their own, will resonate.

It will reinforce a lesson that he’s been trying to beat home since early on in camp.

“The guy standing next to you has to be so important, you have to have so much respect for him,” Donovan said of the unselfishness he wants his team to play with.

It felt like Paris did that.

But there’s also some guarded optimism for Donovan. Call that the New Yorker in him.

“Do I feel like we’ve turned the corner so to speak?” Donovan said after the win over the Pistons in the Paris Game 2023. “I don’t want to say that, because there’s been some other times that I felt we did.”

That there have.

Remember the December stinker in Minnesota in which the Bulls gave up 150 points? That was then followed up by impressive wins in Miami, Atlanta and New York, only to lose to lowly Houston. Then there were three-straight wins over Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Utah, followed up with three-straight losses to Boston, Washington, and then embarrassment against Oklahoma City.

Too many inconsistencies for the 21-24 Bulls. Too many two-steps-forward, two-steps-back moments.

“To me it’s all about building,” Donovan said. “We had a situation out of the Minnesota game where we gave up 150 points and responded pretty well the rest of the road trip. Bottom line is we’ve got to do it every night.

“There’s no guarantee you’ll win the game if you do do it, but you have no chance of winning the game if you don’t. Am I optimistic? Yes, because I like the character and the guys in the locker room, but again we’ve got to prove we can do it for sustainable amount of time and that’s the challenge.”

It’s a challenge for several reasons.

The first is the obvious one, and that’s the Eastern Conference standings.

By winning percentage, the Bulls have the fifth-easiest schedule left in the NBA, but it’s the easy teams that have tripped them up. That’s why they entered Friday sitting 10th and in the final play-in spot.

But there’s also the Feb. 9 trade deadline approaching, and the front office having to decide if this roster will be worth keeping intact. According to sources, as of now there were no signs that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisoivas was looking to be a seller.

Multiple wins over the likes of Boston, Milwaukee and Brooklyn have him believing that this group can make a run come April.

But that can change quickly based on the next few weeks. Basically, what veteran forward DeMar DeRozan has been trying to get his teammates to understand for awhile now.

“It’s gut-cutting time now, every single game,” DeRozan said. “We showed the first half of the season that we can compete with the top teams in this league. Now it’s about putting it together every single night, because these games we can’t get back. Every game is just as important as the next. As long as we have that mindset about every single game, every single practice from here on out, we got a good chance to put ourselves in a good position.”

Good words from DeRozan, but just words. This team needs to show it on the court, and make sure it wasn’t left in Paris next to the hotel room key.

“The more we can play and care for each other, regardless what you’re going through individually, is critically important,” Donovan said. “Now we’ve just got to do it.”

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A rough Weekend Forecast with the picks a week ago going 2-3, but we’re getting right back at it. This is a big, big weekend, highlighted by four terrific matchups Saturday at the annual When Sides Collide Shootout at Benet that were previewed on Thursday.

Here are a half dozen more outstanding matchups to keep tabs on this weekend.

Last Week: 2-3

Overall: 14-7

Kenwood (16-3) vs. Camden (NJ) (12-2) at DePaul, Friday

A couple of the best players in the country and a legendary name in high school basketball heads to Chicago to face the top-ranked team in Illinois.

Camden’s tandem of DJ Wagner, the son of DaJuan Wagner and grandson of Milt Wagner, and 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw are two of the top five prospects in the country. Both are five-star recruits headed to Kentucky.

A pair of big questions for coach Mike Irvin’s team: Can Kenwood’s young frontline contend and contain Bradshaw and how do the Broncos bounce back from a stunning loss to Hyde Park Thursday night?

The pick: Camden 70, Kenwood 63

Yorkville (18-3) at Joliet West (15-5), Friday

In what has been one of the biggest turnaround seasons from a year ago, Yorkville is looking for a statement win. This would be it. Are the young Foxes up for the challenge of Jeremy and Jeremiah Fears and the relentless pressure Joliet West will throw at them?

Yorkville, which is riding an eight-game win streak, has three double-figure scorers in the junior trio of 6-9 Jason Jakstys, LeBaron Lee and guard Jory Boley.

Joliet West won’t get caught looking ahead to Saturday’s showdown with Young. Tigers get the job done at home while the Foxes learn a lot from this one.

The pick: Joliet West 67, Yorkville 57

Lyons (17-2) at Hinsdale Central (17-3), Friday

Behind Penn recruit Nik Polonowski and gritty point guard Jackson Niego, Lyons has lived up to the expectations and is right where it wants to be.

This time of the year ushers in those early-season surprises into legit winners. Hinsdale Central is just that. The Red Devils just keep on winning and haven’t lost in over a month. As a result, coach Nick Latorre’s team has climbed into a tie with Lyons for the top spot in the West Suburban Silver.

It all starts with Ben Oosterbaan, a 6-5 senior who is putting together an outstanding senior season. The Red Devils aren’t deep but the six seniors are playing together and clicking.

The pick: Hinsdale Central 47, Lyons 45

New Trier (18-3) at Glenbrook North (18-2), Friday

If Glenbrook North can hold serve at home it would really tighten things up and add more interest to the Central Suburban League South race. New Trier is unbeaten at 5-0 in league play while GBN is right behind them at 4-1. And a GBN win would also get two-loss Glenbrook South back in the mix.

The two scorers on the wing — New Trier’s Jake Fiegen and Glenbrook North’s Ryan Cohen — receive many of the accolades. But the game within the game will be at point guard. GBN’s Josh Fridman can control a game and be a game-changer with the ball in his hands, while New Trier’s Evan Kanellos is a nuisance for opposing guards. He doesn’t put up big numbers, but he’s tough, defends and is so instrumental in what the Trevians do.

New Trier finds a way on the road and takes command of the CSL South.

The pick: New Trier 62, Glenbrook North 60

Loyola (17-5) at Brother Rice (19-2), Friday

Brother Rice has been front and center on the high school basketball scene since the season tipped. Coach Conte Stamas walked in with a stable of returning players and ranked in the preseason. They’ve lived up to the expectations thus far.

Loyola, meanwhile, is starting to sneak up on some people, thanks to the perimeter attack of senior Alex Engro and junior Miles Boland.

Ahmad Henderson, Brother Rice’s dazzling point guard, will have his hands full. Loyola’s defense has been activated. And that’s not exactly a new thing. The Ramblers always make it difficult.

But since losing three straight games in December — and allowing 50-plus points in each of those three losses — coach Tom Livatino’s team has gone 9-1 in its last 10. No team has scored 50 in that run and the Ramblers are only allowing 35 points a game.

The question is how does favored Brother Rice respond to some tricky timing? The Crusaders are fresh off an emotional win over rival Marist on Tuesday and have a marquee battle with highly-ranked Rolling Meadows on Saturday.

The pick: Brother Rice 44, Loyola 42

Oswego East (17-4) vs. Hillcrest (19-2) at Batavia, Saturday

This is without question the featured game in this year’s Batavia Night of Hoops lineup. Both Oswego East and Hillcrest are riding a wave of momentum.

Oswego East went into Joliet West last week and came away with its biggest win of the season.

Hillcrest not only took care of business earlier this week but did so in impressive fashion, beating both conference foe Lemont and ranked Curie.

Now the two ranked teams square off in what should be a fun non-conference matchup.

Yes, Hillcrest point guard Bryce Tillery makes this team go. But the size and length of the Hawks will be the difference. Akron recruit Darrion Baker is a 6-9 matchup problem for Oswego East, while 6-6 Quentin Heady, who scored 33 in the win over Curie, is getting better and better.

The pick: Hillcrest 70, Oswego East 66

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Northwestern has postponed a second straight men’s basketball game because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

The Wildcats were slated to host Wisconsin on Saturday, but they announced Thursday night that the game would not be played as scheduled.

Northwestern (12-5, 3-3) said it would work with Wisconsin and the Big Ten Conference to find a new date.

The Wildcats were supposed to play Iowa on Wednesday, but that game also was postponed. It has been rescheduled for Jan. 31 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

All distributed tickets for the Northwestern-Iowa and Wisconsin-Northwestern games will be valid for the new dates.

Northwestern’s next scheduled game is Tuesday night at Nebraska.

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PARIS – Billy Donovan wants to believe that something special happened in Paris.

The Bulls coach wants to buy into the idea that almost a week of watching the players and coaching staff having family and friends all together in one city, mingling at team events, and spending time with each other on their own, will resonate.

It will reinforce a lesson that he’s been trying to beat home since early on in camp.

“The guy standing next to you has to be so important, you have to have so much respect for him,” Donovan said of the unselfishness he wants his team to play with.

It felt like Paris did that.

But there’s also some guarded optimism for Donovan. Call that the New Yorker in him.

“Do I feel like we’ve turned the corner so to speak?” Donovan said after the win over the Pistons in the Paris Game 2023. “I don’t want to say that, because there’s been some other times that I felt we did.”

That there have.

Remember the December stinker in Minnesota in which the Bulls gave up 150 points? That was then followed up by impressive wins in Miami, Atlanta and New York, only to lose to lowly Houston. Then there were three-straight wins over Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Utah, followed up with three-straight losses to Boston, Washington, and then embarrassment against Oklahoma City.

Too many inconsistencies for the 21-24 Bulls. Too many two-steps-forward, two-steps-back moments.

“To me it’s all about building,” Donovan said. “We had a situation out of the Minnesota game where we gave up 150 points and responded pretty well the rest of the road trip. Bottom line is we’ve got to do it every night.

“There’s no guarantee you’ll win the game if you do do it, but you have no chance of winning the game if you don’t. Am I optimistic? Yes, because I like the character and the guys in the locker room, but again we’ve got to prove we can do it for sustainable amount of time and that’s the challenge.”

It’s a challenge for several reasons.

The first is the obvious one, and that’s the Eastern Conference standings.

By winning percentage, the Bulls have the fifth-easiest schedule left in the NBA, but it’s the easy teams that have tripped them up. That’s why they entered Friday sitting 10th and in the final play-in spot.

But there’s also the Feb. 9 trade deadline approaching, and the front office having to decide if this roster will be worth keeping intact. According to sources, as of now there were no signs that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisoivas was looking to be a seller.

Multiple wins over the likes of Boston, Milwaukee and Brooklyn have him believing that this group can make a run come April.

But that can change quickly based on the next few weeks. Basically, what veteran forward DeMar DeRozan has been trying to get his teammates to understand for awhile now.

“It’s gut-cutting time now, every single game,” DeRozan said. “We showed the first half of the season that we can compete with the top teams in this league. Now it’s about putting it together every single night, because these games we can’t get back. Every game is just as important as the next. As long as we have that mindset about every single game, every single practice from here on out, we got a good chance to put ourselves in a good position.”

Good words from DeRozan, but just words. This team needs to show it on the court, and make sure it wasn’t left in Paris next to the hotel room key.

“The more we can play and care for each other, regardless what you’re going through individually, is critically important,” Donovan said. “Now we’ve just got to do it.”

Read More

PHILADELPHIA — Petr Mrazek was thrown to the wolves this season by the Blackhawks. Acquired to basically provide a warm body in the net, he has statistically proven to be what everyone expected: one of the NHL’s worst goaltenders.

But his mental resilience, which hasn’t let his lack of success affect his forward-looking attitude or self-confidence, has been genuinely impressive. That has been on prime display the past week, and he has finally found some success as a result.

In the Hawks’ historic 4-1 win over the Flyers on Thursday, Mrazek saved 37 of 38 shots, including 34 straight after an early goal against.

“He’s a battler,” coach Luke Richardson said. “He works hard. There’s been so many games this year where we haven’t got him a lot of goal support when he’s played well and kept us in the game. So it’s really nice to see a guy get rewarded in that way.”

Last weekend against the Kraken, Mrazek endured one of the worst nights possible, stopping one of five shots before being mercifully pulled 12 minutes in. Only 10 other goalies since the NHL began tracking shots on goal (in 1970) have recorded an appearance with a save percentage equal to or worse than Mrazek’s .200 that night.

Having made only two other starts in three weeks leading up to that disaster, it would’ve been easy for him to let his psyche slip. Fellow goaltender Alex Stalock, after all, was supposed to resume his regular starting pattern the following game against the Sabres.

But Stalock’s unfortunate concussion in practice instead gave Mrazek an immediate bounce-back opportunity — and he made the most of it, stopping 30 of 33 in the comeback win Tuesday.

“You just flush that [Seattle] game and move on,” Mrazek said Thursday. “That’s how the league works. [There are] a lot of games in a short time, so sometimes you’re going to have games like that. But you have to refocus and do it again another night.”

He followed that Tuesday performance with Thursday’s fantastic outing. His 38 saves marked his second-most in four years.

Some of them were rather dicey, and others downright lucky — like one puck he inadvertently pulled out of the crease with the back of his pad after it clanked off the post — but he was probably due for some good luck.

“I’ve been a little more aggressive when we are in our zone,” he added. “[When] I’m out of the blue [paint], I can see the puck well. And [our defensemen] are boxing the players out well, so I can be more aggressive. It’s working right now.”

Mrazek’s overall numbers remain ugly: he’s 5-10-1 with an .884 save percentage and a minus-7.6 GSAA. At this point, they’re pretty much doomed to finish the year ugly. One could say they were predestined in September to be ugly. But he’s nonetheless unfazed.

The Hawks have actually demonstrated some impressive resilience lately as a full team. They’ve now won five of six after rallying from a 1-0 first-intermission deficit Thursday.

The victory snapped a strange drought of 17 consecutive regular-season losses in Philadelphia, albeit with one rather notable postseason win sandwiched in the middle of that streak. Their last road victory against the Flyers previously came on Nov. 9, 1996, when Tony Amonte scored an empty-net goal to seal a 4-1 win — just the way Philipp Kurashev did Thursday.

The upswing has lifted them out of last place in the league standings — a spot now held by the Blue Jackets — and slightly reduced their current odds of landing the first overall draft pick. But Richardson is just happy to see his group finally clicking.

“We were skating really well,” Richardson said. “We were tracking well. We were really working together as that five-man unit.”

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