Chicago Blues: Bulls Lose to Jazz
After the Bulls collapsed against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, the common belief was that they’d be physically and emotionally exhausted. That wasn’t good since they had to jump time zones and play the Utah Jazz less than 24 hours later. And this is still the very early beginning of the rebuild. It’s no surprise this one ended in a 110–80 loss.
Surprisingly, the game didn’t get out of hand until the second half. The Bulls trailed by only one after the first quarter and nine at halftime. After that, the talent and fatigue factors finally set in, allowing the Jazz to pull away with 32 third-quarter points and surrender only 11 to the Bulls in the fourth. The main difference was the shooting advantage for the Jazz (46.5–37.2 in field goal percentage, 14–5 in 3-pointers)
Derrick Favors, part of Utah’s core for years now, did the most damage with a game-high 23 points and team-high seven rebounds. Rodney Hood had himself a night off the bench with 19 points, nine coming from beyond the arc. Also with an admirable night as part of the second unit was Alec Burks, scoring 15. Joe Ingles has gotten better every year from beyond the arc and proved it with all 12 of his points coming from there.
Robin Lopez led the Bulls with 15 points, and Bobby Portis continued to gain ground in his battle with Nikola Mirotic after scoring 14. Kris Dunn justified his rightful place in the starting lineup, finishing one rebound shy of a double-double on a 12-point night. Justin Holiday also scored 12, somehow continuing to be an unlikely scoring option for the Bulls. Lauri Markkanen, who may be having difficulty in adjusting to an NBA schedule, struggled on the back end of this back-to-back in a 1-for-9 game from the field that saw him miss all four of his 3-point attempts.
There was hardly anything that really made the Bulls lose this game. It was simply a tired team without any real horses trying to get through a 48-minute affair shortly after coming so close to winning another one. When you factor all that in, it’s next to impossible to come away victorious in such a situation. Heck, even a championship contender would have a difficult time in this spot, though it would stand a much better chance than these Bulls ever could.
Speaking of championship contenders, the Bulls wrap up this four-game Western Conference trip when they play the Golden State Warriors on Friday. I’ll save you the trouble and tell you what’s going to happen right now: the Bulls are going to get blown out. Vegas can’t set a line high enough for that game, but I’ll give you a rough estimate of 25. I’m only being that generous because I don’t think they normally set lines at over 30.
