3. The bench helped the Bulls early, then disappeared like the Bulls’ chances late
Nikola Mirotic was hot early, draining three 3-pointers in five attempts off the bench to help shoot the Bulls back into the contest.
Doug McDermott scored five early points.
And then, nothing.
Both players played over 27 minutes and shot just 6-for-15 from the field. It wasn’t the final shooting percentage as much as it was the amount of shots both players received.
Cristiano Felicio did have a nice 18-minute showing, scoring eight points and grabbing three rebounds while making four of five attempts from the line off the bench.
Pretty sure Felicio was only #Bulls bench player to score in 2nd half. McDermott needs to take more than 5 shots in 27 minutes.
— Mike McGraw (@McGrawDHSports) December 26, 2016
Mirotic and McDermott aren’t the best player on this roster, but they’re both important players for the Bulls. They’re the best perimeter threats the Bulls have and for them to only get 15 shots combined after helping the Bulls get back into the game early isn’t good enough.
The Bulls got 43 combined points from Butler and Wade, but it wasn’t exactly a pretty 43 with Leonard making life hard for Butler once again.
For the Bulls to snap out of this nine-loss-in-12-game funk they’re in, “the others” of the Bulls have to become more involved in the offense.