Bad news arrived for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and this struggling Chicago Bulls team since the conclusion of the All-Star Break ahead of the March 14 home meeting with the Toronto Raptors. To cap the weekend, Donovan and the Bulls are set to host the improving Raptors and star veteran point guard Kyle Lowry and forward Pascal Siakam at the United Center on the night of March 14.
In a report confirmed on the Twitter timeline of K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago this weekend, the Bulls veteran shooting guard/wing Garrett Temple will miss the meeting with the Raptors. The reason for Temple’s absence against the Raptors will be a sprained left ankle.
This is set to be only the second game that Temple has missed for the Bulls to this point of the season. The other came way back early in the regular season, before the turn of the calendar year, as Temple was in mandatory quarantine with a COVID-19 diagnosis.
Bulls list Garrett Temple out vs. Raptors with sprained left ankle.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) March 14, 2021
Impact of Garrett Temple’s absence for the Chicago Bulls
As the Bulls are looking to right the ship after a rough start through two games to the second half of the regular season schedule, all hands on deck would be nice against the Raptors. Missing Temple will really hurt a Bulls team that is struggling to keep pace on the defensive end of the floor.
You can be sure that a capable strategic head coach like Nick Nurse will do his best to utilize his deep backcourt/wing rotation to take advantage of the missing Temple. The Bulls will need others such as rookie forward Patrick Williams, veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr., and shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine to step up in his absence.
Through 35 games played this season, Temple has averaged 8.5 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks. And he’s shot a decent 43 percent from the field roughly, 35 percent from beyond the arc, and 81.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Temple clearly plays an integral role for the Bulls on both ends of the floor in their second unit. A veteran that has a dozen starts on the season, and averages nearly 28 minutes on the floor per night, is a big void in the rotation for the team on this night.
The Bulls enter this game against the Raptors with a record of 16-20 following their March 12 loss at the hands of the shorthanded Miami Heat by a double-digit margin. They will be looking to snap their two-game losing streak to round out the weekend.