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Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte Hornets: Instant Analysis

Oct 17, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (21) is defended by Charlotte Hornets guard Jeremy Lamb (3) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (21) is defended by Charlotte Hornets guard Jeremy Lamb (3) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bulls played their final home game of the preseason on Monday night, losing an overtime “thriller” to the Charlotte Hornets, 108-104.

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The Bulls ran out a starting five that looked a lot like the group that Fred Hoiberg will probably go with to start the season: Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, and Robin Lopez.

The first quarter also went a lot like you would expect it to for that lineup, lots of opportunities, not many from 3-point range. There was a lot of sloppy play both ways, but the Bulls hung around while the Hornets took the early lead. After a little run from Charlotte a little more than halfway through the first quarter, the Hornets got out to a 27-14 lead.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bulls were trailing 32-20. The story of the quarter was five turnovers for Chicago, three for the Hornets and poor shooting for the Bulls. Chicago was 0-for-3 from 3-point range and shot 42.9 percent overall from the field. Charlotte, on the other hand, was 4-for-6 from deep and 55 percent overall from the field with 6-for-6 shooting at the line.

Though a lot more went into it, the Bulls were behind by exactly the number of 3-pointers that they trailed the Hornets.

The Bulls got the 3-point shot working in the second quarter when Wade hit his sixth three of the preseason, bringing him within one of tying the total number of 3s he made during the 2015-16 regular season. Continuing a theme from Chicago’s win over Milwaukee, Nikola Mirotic seemed to be feeling the pressure, forcing a lot of questionable shots. He was trying to make things happen, but all that happened is he started 0-for-3 from 3-point range.

In case you didn’t know that Kemba Walker was very good at basketball, he showed that off against the lackadaisical defensive effort of Rondo, who got caught switching and swiping throughout the early portion of the game. Defense in general, has been a huge woe for the Bulls, even with outstanding inside work from Lopez.

Chicago pulled close midway through the second quarter thanks to a Doug McDermott 3-pointer, which brought the team total to 2-for-9 from beyond the arc. Charlotte still held the lead though, 40-34 with just over six minutes left in the first half.

The Bulls continued to pull closer, cutting the lead to 45-42 with under five minutes left in the half, but Rondo got absolutely ethered by Walker over and over again. Any question about Rondo’s defensive commitment should be answered by this performance. He is a sieve and nothing else at this point.

Despite being outplayed, Chicago hung around and finished the half down 58-55. Good interior defense from Robin Lopez and some inspired defense from Wade helped keep the Bulls close as the pace of the second quarter slowed significantly. The whole situation was helped by Charlotte repeatedly driving into a mid-air shoot or pass situation with nowhere to deliver the ball other than the extended arms of a Bulls defender.

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Chicago also shot much better in the second quarter, bumping their game shooting percentage by nearly 10 percentage points, up to 52.4 at halftime. The Hornets absolutely owned the free throw battle, getting 24 attempts at the line to just nine for the Bulls. The turnovers also slowed down, but Chicago still led in that category, 8-6.

The trips to the free throw line seemed to really slow the pace of the game. Interestingly, this slowing of the pace helped the Bulls pull close and stay there, despite their poor defense and Hoiberg’s desire for the team to play up-tempo offense. The teams essentially evened out and mid-way through the third quarter they were deadlocked at 65 points each.

Another reason the game managed to remain pretty even was the starters for both teams, the true starters that both coaches likely run with during the regular season, were playing together well into the third quarter.

There were some sloppy turnovers, again, toward the end of quarter but the Bulls ended the quarter within one point, 78-77. Canaan showed that he was working considerably better as the two-guard instead of at point. Having a shot created for him proved better than Canaan trying to create for himself with the ball, which is true of a lot of players in the league.

As the game wound down, most of the starters for both teams filtered off the floor, giving way to the guys who needed to earn some minutes and get their last look at playing time before the Bulls make their decision.

The game cleaned up quite a bit in the second half, the Hornets taking considerably fewer trips to the line.

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Charlotte left their starters on the floor right up to the end of the game, with some other players subbing in and out. Kaminsky had a strong second half after a rough first half, including a big 3-pointer when the Bulls could have put it away with a miss.

With the Bulls down by three points, 98-95, with 17.1 seconds left in the game, Hoiberg drew up a SLOB using McDermott as the screen for Grant, who knocked down the 3-pointer with 10.9 seconds left to tie up the game at 98.

Both teams had a chance to win in regulation, but a Walker miss, followed by an awful Chicago inbounds that turned into a Nicolas Batum free run at the basket and easy shot missed forced overtime. Was that sentence confusing? It couldn’t have been worse than watching the end of the fourth quarter knowing that we were going to sit through overtime.

Since the Hornets used four or their starters at the end of regulation, they had basically used up their minutes and put the reserves in for overtime to match the Bulls reserves squad on the floor. It was a lot of ugly basketball and ill-advised shots from both teams in the extra period featuring bricks by Charlotte guards, goaltending by the Bulls, and an airball from McDermott.

Butler put up 15 points to lead the team. Cristiano Felicio saw the court early and often, finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. Rondo had 10 assists, but more importantly zero turnovers which is in stark contrast to the rest of his preseason to date. The Bulls dropped this game, 108-104, and now sit at 3-3 for the preseason.

Chicago finishes up their preseason with a game against the Atlanta Hawks in Nebraska on October 20.

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