2. Depressingly Bad Shooting
The Bulls and Lakers both fell prey to poor shooting last night, with the Lakers making just 40.7 percent of all field goals and the Bulls making a pathetic 35.2 percent.
All U Can Heat
And before you blame it on 3-point shooting, you should know that while the Bulls shot a miserable 4-of-21 on 3-point attempts, the Lakers only took eight triples all game, making just two!
The big difference was really the fourth quarter, i.e. when the shooting counted the most. Chicago went ice cold in that frame, making just 28.6 percent of their 21 field goal attempts (6) to the Lakers’ 50 percent of their 20 looks.
Do you know who the best shooters of the night for Chicago were? DO YOU REALLY? Rajon Rondo and Bobby Portis each shot 50 percent – Rondo went 6-for-12 for 14 points on the night, to go along with 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Portis was 1-for-2, because of course he was.
Jimmy Butler shot just 4-of-18 (22.2%!) and had to go to the free throw line 15 times (making 13 of those attempts) to scrap his way to a 22-point night over 40 minutes of action. Robin Lopez made just a third of his 12 attempts. Dwyane Wade and Taj Gibson both had decent shooting nights (Taj shot 44.4% from the field, Wade shot 46.7% percent on 15 attempts).
Of course, part of the problem with these shots was the shot selection. Butler produced an air ball on a 3-point attempt late. People were scrambling to make off-balance jumpers. The ball stuck everywhere outside of Rondo’s hands (Rondo had some nifty dishes, so there’s that at least).
The bench certainly didn’t help with the dumb shot attempts, mitigating the competent shooting of Wade, Taj and Rondo, making just 7 of 25 shots (28%).
Which leads us to our third (and biggest) big issue in the game.