Losing to the Charlotte Hornets was an embarrassing way for head coach Jim Boylen and the Chicago Bulls to open up the regular season.
There’s not much worse to tip off the regular season schedule for the Chicago Bulls than with how they looked in the Oct. 23 road showdown at the Spectrum Center against the Charlotte Hornets. On Wednesday night, the Bulls slowed a lot of the momentum they generated by raking in a solid offseason by falling short against the lowly Hornets by the final score of 126-125.
Last season, losing to the Hornets was almost expected for the Bulls. But head coach Jim Boylen looked to have a much deeper and more talented team this season. That didn’t help them as 3.5-point favorites just ahead of tip off against the Hornets. Last night didn’t do the Bulls any favors for what looked to be a very winnable stretch of two games to start this season.
The Bulls dug themselves in a hole from the word go. The Hornets went on a good run to start the game and exited the first quarter up by a score of 37-28. There was a stretch where the Bulls pulled a bit closer in the second quarter, but only came up with a one-point edge just before halftime.
However, the Bulls were finally getting it going in the third quarter and even took a 10-point lead at one point down the stretch in the second half. Third-year power forward Lauri Markkanen had it going all night long, but wasn’t able to completely pick up offensive pace for shooting guard Zach LaVine and small forward Otto Porter Jr.
The fourth quarter wasn’t too favorable down the stretch to the Bulls either as they finished one point short of the Hornets. All it took was a backcourt pass to a backup guard for the Hornets to finish off the Bulls in Charlotte. That marked the end to a big night for a rather unknown player in the former Kansas Jayhawks guard Devonte Graham and veteran forward Cody Zeller. Graham had a nice night shooting (6-of-7 from three-point range) and Zeller posted a double-double.
Where the Bulls lost this game was three-point shooting and off-ball defense. There were plenty of chase downs that the Bulls defenders weren’t able to get to, hence the Hornets shooting well over 50 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulls did take more quality looks from beyond the arc, but they only hit at a mark of 30 percent. That should get better as time moves along, though.
Boylen needs to get his team up for the next game to start off this regular season. Next up for Boylen and the Bulls is another road battle that comes on Oct. 25 against the Memphis Grizzlies. That will lead into the Bulls hosting the Toronto Raptors at the United Center on Oct. 26 in the home opener.
This type of competition has to be one which the Bulls beat on a regular basis if they are even going to come close to challenging for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference this season. The Hornets might wind up as one of the three worst teams in the NBA this season and are one of the least proven and talented it seems at the moment. Granted they did get the best of Lauri and the Bulls on opening night for both teams.