The Chicago Bulls lost to the Brooklyn Nets 104-87 on Monday in the Barclays Center. Here’s my one like and dislike from the game.
The Chicago Bulls extended their losing streak to four games with a 104-87 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday in the Barclays Center. The contest was an ugly affair and should explain to every fan of the NBA why the league is trying their best to eliminate tanking.
I mean, just look at this brutal stretch of basketball.
First half of Bulls-Nets enters the bottom 10 game I've ever seen in my life. This is some truly awful basketball. pic.twitter.com/LqntjIkTY9
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) February 27, 2018
Tank-o-meter:
The Chicago Bulls’ record is 20-40 after the loss. They have the eighth worst record in the league and are three games back of the worst record in the association.
Fun Fact #1:
Guard Kris Dunn scored 23 points in the loss vs. the Nets. It was his eighth game with at least 20 points this season. He didn’t score 20 or more points in a game last year in his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Fun Fact #2:
The Chicago Bulls allowed the Nets to record 31 assists. The Bulls have a 3-9 record this season when they allow their opponents to dish out 30 or more assists in a game.
Dislike: 3-point defense
The Chicago Bulls are a bad defensive team. The downfall of the Bulls’ defense is their inability to keep their opponents from scoring in the paint or from beyond the arc. In comparison to the rest of the league, they’re in the bottom 10 in opponent field goal percentage on shots at the rim, frequency of 3-point shot attempts allowed and opposing 3-point percentage. In their game against the Nets, it was the Bulls’ porous 3-point defense that cost them the game.
"“The end of the first half was great and then we came out so sluggish with no energy and the adversity hit and we got stagnant,” said Head Coach Fred Hoiberg, according to a Feb. 26 ESPN article. “You have to keep playing through the tough times and we did not do that well tonight.”"
The Bulls allowed the Nets to shoot 47 percent of their shots from beyond the arc (97th percentile). The volume of 3-point shots shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Nets attempt the second most amount of 3-pointers in the entire league. But, the Bulls’ lack of effort to contest the Nets’ shots from beyond the arc was appalling.
Chicago allowed the Nets to shoot 14 3-pointers that classified as “open” and 24 3-pointers that classified as “wide open”. This is a substantial increase from the combined 29.4 3-point attempts the Nets take per game that qualify as “open” or “wide open”. Luckily for the Bulls, and fans who don’t enjoy ugly, one-sided basketball games, the Nets only hit 33 percent of their “wide open” 3-point attempts.
The Nets’ off-night from beyond the arc allowed the Chicago Bulls to get off lucky. This game could’ve, and should’ve, been a more one-sided affair than it turned out to be.
Like: The loss
I was encouraged by Dunn’s performance and forward Lauri Markkanen, the player of the game, breaking out of his mini-slump slump against the Nets. But, it came in a game in which guard Zach LaVine didn’t play. I want to see all three of them play at a high level together on the floor since they’re going to be the building blocks of the new era of Chicago Bulls basketball.
The best thing that came out of this game for the Bulls was the loss. Although the defeat didn’t bring them any closer to having the worst record in the league, losses to teams at the bottom of the standings are going to matter in June when the ping-pong balls decide the fate of the Bulls 2018 first round draft pick. The franchise has eight more games left against teams who sit below them in the standings. It’s imperative the Bulls lose those eight games if they want to make this season a successful one.