Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine’s 41 point explosion thrown away in loss
A big night by Chicago Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine was put to absolute waste by a bad outing from his team against the Washington Wizards.
All the frustrating losses are really mounting for the Chicago Bulls at this point in time. In the midst of a myriad of injuries that are holding the Bulls back, they have moved their record on the season to 19-36. It was now three games ago that the Bulls moved their record to a season worst 14-games under .500. They keep sinking below rock bottom, though.
However, the Bulls didn’t really even face a good team on Feb. 11. They hosted the Washington Wizards at home at the United Center on Tuesday night, to little avail. The Bulls had at least taken down the Wizards in the previous two meetings. But they didn’t have the same fortune on this night.
The Wizards were able to move three games behind the Orlando Magic for the eight seed in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Bulls extended their losing streak to six games and are 4.5 games back of the eight seed. There was no other slip under head coach Jim Boylen so far this season than there is now.
This slip is starting to feel like when the Bulls were really bad in late November and December and late in March and April last season. The feeling is absolute misery and continuing the fan base’s lack of faith in the front office.
However, a focus on this game in particular just brings the frustration to a few specific sources. Veteran power forward Thaddeus Young had a very bad game, shooting just 33 percent from the field with six turnovers. Small forward Chandler Hutchison had his flashes, but also shot 33 percent from the field and was very much a net-negative.
Point guards Ryan Arcidiacono and Coby White were anything but helpful off the bench. Those two turned the ball over four times and made just three tries from beyond the arc on 11 attempts on the night. Combo guards Tomas Satoransky and Shaquille Harrison had efficient nights put in the dirt thanks to a number of bad games from the Bulls rotation.
Most of all, shooting guard Zach LaVine had a career-night with 41 points on 15-of-21 shooting from the field. The fact that LaVine dropped in 41 points while shooting as good as he did, including 8-of-11 from three-point range, and the Bulls lost to a team like the Wizards by 12 is just inexcusable and downright pathetic.
The Wizards got a good night out of star shooting guard Bradley Beal, with a team-high 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field. But that wasn’t near as good or efficient as LaVine, who just went nuclear on the Wizards.
Blame at this point continually falls on the front office for a lack of direction for this franchise and a silent trade deadline that is nothing but putrid. The Bulls are a difficult team to watch right now, and they head into the All-Star Break on the wrong footing.
The Bulls playoff hopes seem all but shot at this point. They head into the All-Star Break with a very difficult remaining schedule. The Wizards didn’t have their best night, and still beat the Bulls by a double-digit margin.