Chicago Bulls fall short despite Zach Lavine’s brilliance

The Chicago Bulls have struggled mightily in their first two games of the 2018-19 season. Zach LaVine has been the lone bright spot for the Bulls thus far and nothing changed against Detroit.

The Chicago Bulls had their home opener at the United Center on Saturday night and fell just short in a very tough 118-116 loss to their longtime rival the Detroit Pistons. Zach LaVine was once again the player of the game for Bulls.

Scoring 33 points on a very solid 12-of-21 shooting from the field with 3 rebounds and 3 assists, LaVine was one of several players that had a solid game for the home team.

Besides LaVine, Bulls starters Justin Holiday and Cameron Payne each contributed 19 and 17 points, respectively. With the often criticized Payne going 6-of-12 from the field with 3 rebounds and 4 assists, he was surprisingly key to keeping the Bulls in the game on a night where the normally very solid Bobby Portis really struggled by going just 2-for-12 from the field with 6 points and 14 rebounds.

Homegrown Chicago native Jabari Parker, who was one of four Bulls in double figures in scoring had a really solid debut in his first-ever home game as a member of his hometown team. Scoring 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field with 6 rebounds and an assist, it was his three with 3:14 left to cut the Bulls deficit to one at the time that was one of the biggest shots in the game.

It was LaVine, though, who scored at least 30 points for the second straight game, who was easily the player of the game. LaVine became just the third Bulls player ever (joining Michael Jordan and Bob Love) to open a season with back-to-back 30 point games.

LaVine hit a clutch three to tie the game at 116 with 24.6 seconds left. He would also attempt to win the game for the Bulls with another three-point look in the final seconds. LaVine would end up losing the ball before getting the shot up. Former All-Star Blake Griffin provided the tight defense for the Pistons on the final possession.

While LaVine didn’t get the shot off to win it, he was still very key in helping the Bulls have a chance to even attempt to win the game.

With the way the Bulls played in their first home game and in the first quarter of their season opener against Philadelphia this past Thursday, they showed why regardless of what their final record is, this will be a very exciting season for the Bulls.

If LaVine keeps up this level of play, he’ll likely be on pace to have an All-Star caliber season.