Third quarter
Williamson continued to impress many with his ability to dominate the paint, which is where he scored all of his points through this point in the game.
Meanwhile, the Bulls started to shoot the ball poorly from the field after what had been considered an effective first half of shooting. Turnovers wouldn’t help the team’s cause, either.
To the Bulls’ dismay, the Pelicans went on an 18-2 run just north of 5-minute mark of the game.
Not even Bulls guard Ryan Arcidiacono could help the right the ship, even as he had made some positive contributions for the team in the first half.
At the same time, this is nothing new for the Bulls. The team has struggled at times to put four, full quarters together to close out games with the win. The third quarter proved to be the Bulls’ Achilles heel when they faced the Pelicans.
One positive to note is the Bulls had a few consecutive defensive stops, which turned into offense at the other end in the closing minutes. Some special credit should go to Hutchison, Arcidiacono and guard Shaquille Harrison for their efforts, which could have gone a long way toward overturning the outcome of the game. The problem is the Bulls weren’t able to string enough stops together to force a definitive comeback rally during this stretch of time.
As time expired for the third quarter, the Pelicans led the Bulls 103-81.