The Chicago Bulls took on the Toronto Raptors in hopes of getting back on track after a few tough losses. Unfortunately, the Bulls would only continue to struggle.
The Chicago Bulls were back home on Saturday night to take on the Toronto Raptors after three straight losses to the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks.
The Raptors were coming off a tough OT loss in Boston where superstar Kawhi Leonard played 43 hard minutes. Going to Chicago to square up against a really bad Bulls team provided Toronto with a nice opportunity to give Leonard some well-deserved rest as opposed to forcing him to suit up on back to back nights.
For those of you that thought the Bulls would be able to take advantage of a Kawhi-less Raptors team, I regret to inform you that you could not have been more wrong.
The Raptors would dismantle the Bulls 122-83.
Chicago was without their best player, Zach LaVine, due to a respiratory illness, so it’s not entirely fair to say that the Bulls should’ve been able to hang with this deep, talented Raptors team.
Without LaVine, the Bulls’ offense struggled to get anything going. As a team, they shot a poor 34.9 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from the 3-point line. The Bulls also turned the ball over 22 times – 14 of those turnovers came from the bench.
Despite struggling to produce offensively, the Bulls hung around in the first half. At the break, they were down by a very manageable 13 points. But for the second straight night, the Bulls would start the second half playing like a team that has no business being on the court with an NBA playoff team. Maybe that’s a sign that the Bulls aren’t anywhere close to contending with the league’s elite.
As far as individual performances go, there wasn’t much to be excited about.
Antonio Blakeney led the Bulls in scoring with 13 points but shot an extremely poor 6-of-19 from the field and had a -30 plus/minus.
Jabari Parker also struggled, shooting 5-of-14 from the field and finishing with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. To his credit, he was one of the Bulls’ top performers. Unfortunately, that isn’t saying very much at this point.
Shaquille Harrison was the best individual performer for the Bulls even though he shot 1-for-7 from the field and only finished with 7 points. His hard work and defensive tenacity showed just how badly he wants to be on this team. Not only does he want to be a consistent part of the Bulls’ rotation, but he deserves it. Harrison added 6 assists, 5 steals and 4 rebounds to his 7 points.
The bottom line for this Bulls team is that without Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Bobby Portis and Kris Dunn, they just aren’t talented enough to hang with the best teams in the East. Hopefully, as those players start to return, the Bulls will start to find their identity and subsequently start winning some ball games.
Next up for the Bulls is a home game against the struggling Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, November 21. This is a must-win game for a young Bulls team trying to get back on track.