Chicago Bulls play Golden State Warriors tight, lose 119-112

The Golden State Warriors are a hard team to beat, but the Bulls nearly played them tight enough.

Chicago came in winners of three-straight, Golden State winners of thirteen consecutive road games. One is short and impressive, the other long and incredibly impressive. Streaks are meant to be broken, but it was the longer streak that survived the night.

The first basket of the game had some bad mojo. Jordan Bell, infamously drafted by the Bulls and traded to Golden State, started the game. On the first score, Robin Lopez emphatically dunked over the rookie Bell, who went down with a knee injury on the play. Bell would be wheelchaired off and out for the game.

Not soon after, both teams started pouring in shots. Lopez scored the first six Bulls’ points, finishing the quarter with 10.

Golden State and Chicago played narrow, then traded runs. Chicago’s came second, at the end of the quarter, leading 40-38 after one.

Hot hands from Nikola Mirotic gave the Bulls plenty of life in the second. Lead by Niko, the Bulls cracked the Warriors for an 11-0 run and a 57-46 lead in the middle of the second. Simply put, the Bulls were playing this one tight and at times playing ahead.

The run was capped by a Kris Dunn steal leading to a Zach LaVine transition dunk; this is a skill that’s given him plenty of attention. Seeing LaVine slam the ball home was certainly a good sign for the newly healthy guard.

Despite the impressive scoring streaks for the Bulls, they caught the Warriors on a hot-cold night. When the Warriors get hot, they stay hot. So, every time the Bulls made a run, the Warriors had shots to match, mostly at the hands of Steph Curry.

Curry finished the first half with 19, Klay Thompson with 16 of his own. The Bulls still had a 66-63 lead. Nikola Mirotic had 12 points in 11 minutes, tying Robin Lopez for a team-high in first-half scoring.

While shooting contests are fun, they’re hard to win against the Warriors

The second half was simply an entirely different beast, as Golden State seemed to have a basketball magnet affixed to the nylon. Klay Thompson made a trio of threes to jump Golden State ahead.

Steph Curry scored 11 points in three minutes, whereas the Bulls couldn’t seem to buy a basket. Golden State would beat Chicago 32-12 in the quarter, taking a 95-78 lead into the final quarter of play.

The fourth quarter brought renewed hope to Chicago’s upset bid. Notably, Kris Dunn had the magic working. After a switch that brought starters into the game, Chicago dropped the Golden State lead into double-digits.

Kris Dunn continued injecting life into the Chicago attack, but it wouldn’t last. At the 2:55 mark, Dunn slammed the ball home after stealing the ball from Klay Thompson. While it cut the Warriors’ lead to an ever tight 112-107, Dunn fell on his face after the dunk, missing the remainder of play.

The effort continued, but the Bulls simply couldn’t net enough shots to finish the job. Speaking of Finnish, Lauri Markkanen didn’t seem to get enough touches. Scoring 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, there wasn’t enough shot creation to earn the rookie many scoring opportunities.

While the Bulls took the loss, it was another showcase of this team’s fight. Steph Curry scored 30 and Klay Thompson dropped 38; when those two are on, it’s hard to win.

However, the grander picture shows a Chicago team who lost their feel from three. They hit just four of their 19 second-half three-point attempts, going 10-of-39 in the game. Golden State hit 13-of-33 by the same margin.

The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Bulls. Mirotic led the team with 24 points off the bench. Bulls fall to 17-28 on the season, but fans should feel good about the effort. Next Bulls game is Saturday against the Hawks.