The Chicago Bulls lost for the first time in over a week on Saturday night, when they visited the Los Angeles Clippers in the middle of their six-game Circus Trip. The silver lining? Their next road game is Sunday night in the same building against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Next: Bulls at Clippers Takeaways
The Bulls continue to be one of the most intriguing stories at the beginning of the 2016-17 NBA season. After a winning streak, losing streak and another winning streak we can safely say that if nothing else, Chicago is the streakiest team in the league this year. Sunday night will be their first chance to buck that trend.
After a tough loss against the Clippers, there were many positives and at least one glaring negative to take away from the game. They hung with the Clippers, even pushing to a 19-point lead at one point, before eventually succumbing to the team with the best record in basketball.
The game was the first real litmus test for Chicago and their ability to contend with the best teams in the league. They clearly benefited from the Clippers being on a back-to-back in Sacramento the night before, but that doesn’t mitigate that the Bulls showed up to play. They were the underdogs and they showed they can hang. When they play the Lakers on Sunday, they won’t be underdogs so they’ll need to show that they can maintain a consistent level of play following a tough loss.
If Chicago drops their matchup with the Lakers on Sunday night, it puts them in tough position heading to Denver and Philadelphia at the tail end of their road trip with an established history of going streaking this season.