For the first time this season, the Chicago Bulls saw shooting guard Zach LaVine and power forward Lauri Markkanen click in the same night for a win.
Nabbing a win over the now 8-11 Sacramento Kings doesn’t usually look too impressive on the surface for a team that had the aspirations of being a playoff contender this season. But for a team like the Chicago Bulls that lost three straight and carried a record of 6-14 heading into this showdown against the Kings, they will take any win that will come along.
Head coach Jim Boylen got his Bulls off to a poor start through the first quarter of the regular season. In the final leg of a three-game road trip, the Bulls needed to grab a win to cling onto any hope of playoff contention in the Eastern Conference throughout the month of December. The Bulls came into this game having lost to the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers in the first two legs of this three-game Western Conference road stretch.
However, the Bulls didn’t get off to a good start in this game. The Bulls fell behind by an 11-point margin at one point in the first quarter. But they took off about halfway through the first quarter and never looked back. There was one point where the Bulls had a 31-6 run in the second quarter. They also headed into halftime with a 55-44 lead.
In a rare outing for the Bulls, the team looked solid on both ends of the floor. They started pressuring the Kings and turned the ball over a lot all 48 minutes. But most of the 18 turnovers the Bulls drew came in the first half. Converting on those turnovers was a theme that powered them throughout that solid run in the late first and second quarters.
Good individual efforts from the Bulls best players also powered them in this game. Power forward Lauri Markkanen finally broke through with 20 points and seven rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range. Markkanen was also a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Moreover, the Kings and Bulls both had good performances from their respective shooting guards. Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine had a game-high 28 points to go along with three assists, one rebound, and one steal. LaVine went 7-of-13 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range.
Meanwhile, Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield had the second-most points in this game. He finished up with 26 points, five rebounds, and four assists. He caught fire down the stretch and nearly led the Kings back into the game.
What really helped the Bulls turn the corner in this game was the shooting efforts from the field and from downtown. The Bulls shot 48 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from beyond the arc. They also got to the charity stripe nine more times than the Kings.
Next up for the Bulls is a return home on Dec. 4 to host the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies gave the Bulls one of their seven wins of the season on the road back on Oct. 25. And with this win over the Kings, the Bulls move to a record of 7-14 on the season to try and stay afloat in the playoff picture in the East.