Chicago Bulls at New York Knicks Analysis: That’s pretty awful, Bulls

The Chicago Bulls traveled to New York to face the Knicks on Tuesday night for a late-season edition of #NationalTVBulls. (That was until the game got flexed out of the slot on ESPN.) Here’s a look at how the Bulls fared against the Rose and Noah-less Knicks anyway.

If you were expecting a little nostalgia with watching the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night against the New York Knicks, you picked the wrong game to watch.

The Bulls faced the Knicks on national television again, but this time around, Derrick Rose nor Joakim Noah would be on the floor for the Knicks. Both Rose (meniscus tear) and Noah (suspension) would miss the final meeting of the season between the Bulls and Knicks.

As for the Bulls themselves, they came into the start of this three-game road trip winners of their last four games and seventh in the Eastern Conference standings with just five games left.

Let’s take a quarter-by-quarter look at what went done as the hot Bulls took on the tanking Knicks.

First quarter

It was an offensive clinic from both teams right out of the gate. (No, seriously. And, this was without Kristaps Porzingis on the floor for the Knicks, who was out with a back issue.)

In the first 5:40 of the contest, the two teams combined to score 31 points on 14-of-21 shooting from the field, which saw the Knicks lead it early, 17-14.

Jimmy Butler was posting and toasting right out of the gate, scoring eight of the Bulls’ first 14 points in that span.

He also did this, which was neat.

Another thing that happened in the first quarter was Rajon Rondo.

Until the 2:50 mark of the opening frame, no other Bull had an assist on the Bulls’ eight makes than Rondo. It was until Robin Lopez assisted on another Jimmy Butler bucket that someone else on the roster recorded an assist.

Rondo went to the bench for the first time in the game with 1:15 left and the Bulls down by 3, which left him short of a potential Bulls record.

Despite some good things from the starters, the Bulls couldn’t get stops in the early going, as the Knicks made 14 of their first 21 shot attempts on the night. (The Bulls started 8-of-17 on the night from the field.)

Knicks led it after one, 29-24.

Second quarter

Things didn’t get much better for the Bulls to start the second frame, as they found themselves down nine points inside of the first three minutes in the quarter. (At this point, they were shooting 37 percent from the floor.)

Whatever this was from Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg, it wasn’t great.

It wasn’t until Hoiberg put Rondo, Butler, Mirotic and Lopez back on the floor that the Bulls scored in the quarter. That came with 6:35 left in the quarter. That’s how bad it was for that second unit.

At this point, the Bulls were down 14 points (38-24) after a Mindaugas Kuzminskas triple. It was ugly as you’d think it would be against a team with absolutely nothing to play for (and their future centerpiece in street clothes).

With 5:56 left in the quarter, the Bulls had just three points.

Three.

Against the Knicks.

(With four minutes left, they had just five points!)

Even with the starters on the floor, things were still bad.

At one point, the Bulls were down 20 (!) and went into half after giving up 54 points in a half to the Knicks. The Bulls shot 15-for-45 (34.1 percent) in the half, missed 11 of 13 3-point attempts and had eight turnovers.

After all of that, the Bulls somehow finished with 16 points in the second quarter. Not great, Bob.

Knicks led at the break, 54-40.

Third quarter

Despite the Bulls’ bad start, they had plenty of time to turn it around. I mean, Indiana beat Toronto, so they only trailed the Bulls by a half-game in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bulls needed an answer.

For a brief glimpse, it looked like they were going to get one.

And then all of a sudden, it didn’t.

That And-1 embarrassing crossover on Mirotic from Carmelo Anthony put the Knicks up 21 points (their biggest lead of the night up to that point).

Yeah, things weren’t going to get better at all.

Do we really have to say more about this quarter? It was bad, just like the other two.

(They did cut it down to a 16-point deficit? I mean, that’s good, right? Yeah, it’s not. I just wanted to ask anyway.)

Knicks led it after three, 80-64.

Fourth quarter

Take a guess what happened.

Yeah, it was bad, too.

Like, it was freakin’ terrible to watch and you should given free breakfast at your nearby IHOP in Chicagoland if you sat through that game.

(And that’s with the Bulls cutting the Knick lead down to nine inside of the final three minutes of the quarter.)

Bulls lose an inexplicable one, 100-91.

Next: Bulls Weekly Grades: April 3 Edition

Next game

The Bulls have a day off on Wednesday and then play the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night in Philly. The scheduled start time for that one is set for 6:00 p.m. CT.