Chicago Bulls: Warriors provide most embarrassing loss of season so far

What should be considered by far the most embarrassing loss for the Chicago Bulls so far this season came against the Warriors by 14-points.

Possibly the best chance for a road win at any point this season for the Chicago Bulls came against the lowly three-win Golden State Warriors on Nov. 27. But the Bulls let this one slip through their hands in a pretty thoroughly embarrassing 104-90 loss at the Chase Center.

Coming off one of the most dominant runs the modern era of the NBA, the Warriors lost a lot of their talent either to the free agent market or to injury since last season ended with a finals loss to the Toronto Raptors. Superstar forward Kevin Durant, gone. Former MVP point guard Stephen Curry, out with a hand injury. The other “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson, out with a knee injury.

With all that in mind, the Bulls should be able to take out head coach Steve Kerr and the tanking Warriors. Although the Bulls looked pretty bad in their 117-94 home loss at the United Center to the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 25, they still entered this game against the Warriors as the favorites in the betting line.

This game didn’t start out so bad for Boylen and the Bulls. But the Warriors started to take control behind the efforts of rookie forward Eric Paschall and guard Alec Burks late in the first quarter. This was also the first game that star forward Draymond Green played in for the last three outings.

Combo guard Tomas Satoransky and shooting guard Zach LaVine put their best foot forward to keep the Bulls in this game. LaVine stayed hot as he registered a game-high 36 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Satoransky added 19 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, and two steals on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

This was the second best outing of the season for LaVine, behind his scorching 49-point scoring night in a 116-115 road win over the Charlotte Hornets.

There was legitimately no help that Satoransky and LaVine got from anyone else in this game. No other Bulls player even found themselves scoring in double-digits. Center Wendell Carter Jr. finished with eight points as did power forward Lauri Markkanen.

The playing time for Markkanen was also slight here. He got the least time on the floor of all the Bulls starters, outside of small forward Chandler Hutchison (who left with an upper-body injury). Hutchison left the game after playing in just two minutes.

A lack of wing depth continued to hamper the Bulls on the boards. The Bulls were outrebounded by a double-digit margin against a very undersized Warriors team. That just highlighted a lack of effort on the boards from the Bulls through and through.

The Bulls can’t have their best players, outside of LaVine and Satoransky, disappear like they did against the Warriors. This was a very winnable game on the road, and the Bulls let another one slip away.

While the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers keep winning at the top of the Central Division, the Bulls continue to get left in the rear view mirror along with the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers. The Bulls now move to a record of 6-13 on the season.

Up next for the Bulls is a rematch, and a spot for revenge, against the Trail Blazers on the road on Nov. 29 at the Moda Center. That will be the second leg of a three-game road stretch that finishes up against the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 2.