As was to be expected on a road back-to-back against a great home like Portland, the Bulls got smoked last night. The score ended up 105-87, though it was much uglier before the bench made up some ground in garbage time.
Portland blitzed Chicago from the start, with LaMarcus Aldridge draining a couple threes and Damian Lillard notching seven assists in his first ten minutes of action. Somehow the skeleton Bulls bench brought them all the way back (though Portland’s bench had a hand in that too). The combination of their strong play and the fatigue factor led to Thibs bringing the starters back much later than expected in the second quarter. However, by halftime, the lead was back to 18 and never did the second half feel all that competitive. Lillard led a balanced Blazers attack with 21 points, nine assists, six rebounds, as well as nailing all four attempts from beyond the arc.
The three big talking points from this game:
1. Taj Gibson injured his ankle, possibly severely, as seen in the screengrab at the top of the post. The Bulls are trying to say it’s not serious, but Gibson was on crutches and in a walking boot. It’s not his first bout with ankle ailments and with the Bulls finally seeing the light on being more conservative regarding injured players, it seems Taj will be back later rather than sooner.
2. Mike Dunleavy caused a stir with his flagrant foul on Lillard as he was shooting a three. Dunleavy ran at Lillard and pushed him while he was in midair, causing Wes Matthews to run up in defense of his point guard, which in turn caused Aaron Brooks to fly in looking to start something. Dunleavy could have justifiably been ejected but only drew a Flagrant 1. Per K.C. Johnson,
Dunleavy very good on flagrant foul. Said he was merely trying to stop action with Noah on ground. Called Lillard "nice kid." Showed remorse
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) November 22, 2014
3. The early blowout delivered some unusual stat lines. Nikola Mirotic was one of only two Bulls to post double figures, along with Brooks. He tallied 24 points and 11 rebounds in 35 minutes, and only had three personal fouls after quickly racking up four early whistles in Sacramento. Also, he was 4-7 from three, while the rest of the team combined was 4-15. It’s almost like he should get playing time even when everyone’s healthy…
Tony Snell had nine points on 3-4 from the floor in 31 minutes, though he still looked uncomfortable and a beat slow. He also got viciously dunked on in transition by Allen Crabbe. Joakim Noah just didn’t have his usual level of energy and thankfully only played 22 minutes before taking a seat for the night. Finally, Jimmy Butler had his worst shooting game of the season, going just 3-13 for nine points, his first game in single digits this year. That’s obviously aided by the raw number of minutes he plays on a nightly basis, and tonight he saw just 26:32 of floor time, also his lowest of the year. In fact, it was his first game under 35 minutes this season and the least he’s played in a game he finished healthy in over a year.
The Bulls have the weekend to rest up for Utah, the next stop on their Circus Trip that has taken a turn for the worse. Cleveland is going through struggles of their own and the Bulls have already shown they can handle the Raptors in Toronto, so homecourt advantage shouldn’t be a huge concern right now. Down four of their top seven rotation players, the objective has gone from winning games to just keeping their remaining core guys healthy.
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