NEW YORK — The numbers are the numbers.

That is, until they’re not.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan and his players know that all too well.

Even with a shaky showing against the Nets on Friday, the Bulls entered Saturday ninth in the NBA in defensive efficiency — a ranking that wasn’t necessarily fake news, but it was a bit of a fib.

Donovan realizes it because he has film and eyes. So while stat nerds might want to tell him one thing, he knows what he has seen: too many defensive breakdowns, too many easy baskets.

“Half your defensive rating is what teams shoot against you, and you try to look at where they’re shooting from, what you’re going to live with,” Donovan said. “As early as it is, I think our guys are working, but the one thing that takes a little longer to come along when you’re a team that is starting to play with each other, finding a chemistry with each other, it always seems that the defense is a little ahead of the offense at this time of year. I try to reserve judgment.

“Now what we’re doing schematically: Are we executing? We’re looking at that.”

Donovan is looking at a lot of things when it comes to his team’s defense.

After finishing fifth in defensive efficiency in 2022-23, the Bulls had some serious slippage last season. Even with Andre Drummond and Alex Caruso atop the roster in individual defensive efficiency, the Bulls ranked 21st.

The expectation was an even bigger drop this season with Drummond and Caruso moving on, but that hasn’t been the case.

Concerns remain, however.

“Figuring out our defensive identity and who we are, that doesn’t happen overnight,” guard Josh Giddey said. “It’s going to take a little bit of time. Stats are what they are. Guys can miss shots and make your defense look really good or hit a bunch of shots, and your defensive rating isn’t so great. It’s a give and take.

“I think our defense has been solid, but there have been too many times where we break down and allow guys to get confident.”

That has been the case in the paint especially.

If there’s a blueprint to give the Bulls problems, it’s to attack them in the paint. The Nets were the latest team to carry that out.

Donovan’s crew ranks 29th in points allowed in the paint at 56.3 per game. Brooklyn had 66 points in there.

“I thought we had a hard time guarding [Nets players] off the dribble,” Donovan said. “We’ve got to get better there. We’ve got to help those guys, whether it’s through different schemes or individual pride or shrinking the floor a little bit.”

“Pride” was a good place to start. Individual pride motivates a player to get in front of an opponent who has the ball, making sure the blow-bys are limited and the outside shots are contested.

“I think it’s about having a level of pride,” guard Ayo Dosunmu said. “Having pride in wanting to guard. You don’t want to just be labeled a team that’s playing fast and giving up 125 points on the other end, so that’s something I take pride in. Being a two-way player, competing on that side of the ball, pushing my teammates to try to get the most out of them because we have a lot of talented players that can play defense.

“It’s all about bringing it every night. Ultimately, we can do that. We’ve shown we can be an elite defensive team, but now it’s all about sustaining it. I think defense is a choice. I think everybody is capable of playing defense. It’s all about how you want to be labeled, in my opinion.”