The Wheels are Starting to Fall off in Chicago

When the Chicago Bulls traded Wendell Carter Jr, Otto Porter Jr, and 2 first round picks in exchange for Nikola Vucevic it looked like a move that would give the Bulls another star and give them a chance to make a late season run at a playoff spot. That has not been the case however, through 10 games the Bulls are just 3-7 and find themselves at 22-31. After picking up a needed victory against the Toronto Raptors 122-113, the Bulls have dropped 3 straight, including a disappointing performance in their game against the 14-41 Minnesota Timberwolves. 

In the Toronto game Bulls fans got another glimpse of the potential Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic can have together; Lavine scored 22 points and dished out 13 assists while Vucevic scored 22 and grabbed 7 rebounds. Chicago also got a strong performance from Lauri Markkanen, 18 points off the bench, Daniel Theis, 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Coby White, who poured in 15 points and hit 3 triples. It was very concerning though to see Chris Boucher, who is only averaging 13.5 PPG this season, torch the Bulls for 38 points and 19 rebounds. Toronto was playing without Kyle Lowry and the Bulls let the Raptors hang around far too long before Zach Lavine hit a dagger 3-pointer to seal the game with 45 seconds left to play. In an Eastern Conference that is very competitive towards the bottom of the standings getting a victory against a team behind you in the standings is always very important so this was certainly a big win for the Bulls, even if it was a bit of an ugly win. 

The other 3 games on the road trip weren't as kind to the Bulls as they would lose all three to the Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Memphis Grizzlies. In the Hawks game Chicago would lose 120-108 despite a 50 point game from Zach Lavine and 25 points and 10 rebounds from Nikola Vucevic. The rest of the team would combine for only 33 points on an abysmal 12-36 from the field and 3-13 from beyond the 3-point line. It was even worse because the Bulls were leading 66-53 at half time before they were outscored 33-18 in the 3rd quarter and 34-24 in the 4th. With the Hawks sitting at the #4 seed that would have been a very impressive victory for Chicago but they were unable to hang on and close it out. 

Chicago followed it up with a game against the worst team in the NBA in the Minnesota Timberwolves and were unable to battle back after getting down 66-55 at the half. You have to be able to beat the teams you are supposed to if you want to be competitive in the NBA and the Bulls fell short it this one 121-117. 6 Bulls scored in double figures in this game, including a game high 30 from All-Star Zach Lavine but it wasn't enough as Karl Anthony-Towns, Deangelo Russell, and Anthony Edwards put on a show and carried the T-Wolves to victory. Towns nearly had a triple double in this contest scoring 27 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, and dishing out 8 assists. Chicago's defense was a big reason why weren't able to win either one of these games, you can't give up 120 points in the NBA and expect to win many games it is just simply too many points to have to worry about covering every night. 

The last game of the road trip was another chance for Chicago to beat a playoff caliber team in the 26-25 Memphis Grizzlies, who sit at the #8 spot in the Western Conference. This was a game that for 36 minutes looked like it was gonna be a relatively back and forth contest with Chicago leading 74-70 entering the 4th quarter. But the Bulls 4th quarter struggles would haunt them once again as they would score only 16 points in 12 minutes and lose once again 101-90. 4 Bulls combined for 76 of the total points, led by Zach Lavine once again with 21. That means the other 6 players who stepped foot on the court scored a grand total of 14 points in 123 minutes played, that just isn't going to get it done against teams in the NBA. Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic are the only two on that roster who are consistently playing at a high level and the rest of the team is going MIA for long stretches. You won't be a winning basketball team in the NBA if you only score 16 points in a quarter and have 6 players combine for 14 points, there has to be more consistency for the Bulls to turn this around. 

The Bulls are in action tonight against the Orlando Magic but they have a tough schedule coming up with 7 of their next 9 games against teams ahead of them in the standings and above .500 so this will be a huge test for this team. If they can play well and win a few of those games that is going to go along way towards their push to the playoffs. The Chicago Bulls are currently the #10 seed in the Eastern Conference and are 3 games back of the #9 seeded Indiana Pacers and 5 games back of the #8 seeded New York Knicks. The Bulls will square of against those Knicks, in what could be a very important game, April 28th on ESPN.