Brooklyn Manhandles Chicago

The Chicago Bulls got manhandled by the Brooklyn Nets & their Big 3. A game that was a marquee matchup & on national television turned out to be straight embarrassing. The Bulls were coming off an awesome win against Detroit & the expectation was for it to carry to the next game. The game was thrilling in the first half & the crowd was so into the game it was electric. The Bulls fought as much as they seemed they could in the first half & the first couple minutes of the third quarter but it was only downhill from there. I am someone that is extremely critical of the referees & especially was during this game. Being at the game, it seemed like the referees controlled the tempo of the game right from the tip-off. The disparity in free throw shooting was evident & the crowd was letting the referees hear it, me included. Even with all that, the Bulls just looked bad. No excuses, they have to play better if they want to be seen as the best. The Bulls are no longer the hunters, they are now the hunted.

First of all, the energy in the arena was electric. It was a phenomenal experience & the energy was contagious. It was a packed arena with the color red almost everywhere. ESPN was in the building for this marquee matchup & it seemed like a great matchup in the first half. Unfortunately, Derrick Jones Jr. got injured thirty-six seconds into the game, the primary defender on KD. I knew the game was going to be different after that. Alfonzo McKinnie was the next man up & had the impossible task of guarding Kevin Durant. The Bulls & Nets went back & forth during the opening quarter with baskets being traded until the whistles starting blowing. Brooklyn shot 12 free throws compared to Chicago’s three; McKinnie had a foul, Coby had two & Ayo had three—all in the first quarter. Losing Ayo to three fouls was huge since he would be guarding either Harden or Kyrie; he may not have the ability to stop them but with his defensive integrity & athleticism, he could’ve made the game slightly ever so difficult for them. Kyrie didn’t score in the first quarter but his mere presence was enough to rattle any defense. Harden & Durant both scored eight points & both made trips to the free throw line. DeMar got going with nine in the quarter while Zach & Coby added six. The Bulls struggled rebounding the ball & their defensive rotations looked elementary. A constant double team on KD left another player open for a three & the Nets did an excellent job making the extra pass. The Nets looked good, leading the Bulls 38-31 at the end of the first. Not much had changed in the second quarter except for the whistles; somehow the Bulls ended up shooting ten free throws to the Nets three. The Bulls were down by nine early in the second quarter but LaVine had showed up. Zach went on to score 11 points in the quarter & DeMar added six. Zach was hitting some tough buckets, especially at the end of the second quarter where he went on a 7-0 run on his own. The Bulls still struggled to rebound the basketball & the perimeter defense was just bad. It looked like someone was getting an open three on every possession, although they only three in the second quarter. Kyrie & Harden were the focal points in that quarter with them scoring seven & six, respectively. Blake Griffin won’t show up on the stat sheets but he was everywhere that night, providing energy & defense. The Bulls fought as much as they could being down 62-60 at the end of the first half.

Then the game just got away from Chicago. The Bulls looked lost on defense & could not stop fouling (or the refs couldn’t stop blowing the whistle). The energy was not only sucked out of the crowd but looked like it got sucked out of the players too. The Nets looked like a team that wouldn’t miss though, shooting 12-18 from the field & 5-9 from deep. There was a lid on the basket for Chicago too, going 7-23 from the field & 1-9 from deep. Just bad offense & bad defense. McKinnie racked up three fouls in the quarter too, with the Bulls losing another primary defender. The Nets were the better transition team that night as well, beating the Bulls in their own game. The Nets finished the third quarter with a 21-4 run & practically ended the game right there. To make it worse, they started the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to destroy any hopes of a comeback. Billy Donovan waived the white flag & the starters barely played the rest of the game. The Bulls lose 138-112.

This game was reminiscent of the loss to the Warriors earlier this season. Not much to say about this game other than the Bulls needing to back to the film room & rewatching the third quarter. The Bulls let the game slip away with bad defense & bad rebounding. Fouling was an issue as well, especially shooting fouls. Losing DJJ is a tough one but the Bulls have to continue to fight & hope the next man up will do what they can. The Bulls were evidently missing Caruso & Green that night, especially in terms of defense & hustle. The Bulls don’t have Caruso again tonight against the Warriors but Klay & Draymond are both out so the Bulls should have an edge. They’ll need to come out with more energy & play aggressive against the second-best team in the NBA. Hopefully the perimeter defense is better & we can rebound the ball. Vooch will need to be big this game since the Warriors like to play small ball & the Bulls have the edge. The Bulls need to show heart & bounce back in another marquee matchup tonight.