An interesting battle on the hardwood on the night of April 12 is about to take place between first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Bulls are coming off a tragic loss on the road on April 11 at the hands of the last-place Minnesota Timberwolves and star big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
On April 11, the Bulls fell short to the Timberwolves by the final score of 121-117. It was the second loss in a row for the Bulls. This losing streak started back on April 9, as the team somehow still fell short at the hands of star point guard Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks despite a season-high scoring night from star shooting guard Zach LaVine with 50 points.
To get past the Grizzlies on April 12, the Bulls will need to both play better defense and get a complete effort from their starting unit. The Bulls have not done a good job of late giving support to their stars in big man Nikola Vucevic and LaVine.
What won’t help the Bulls out in their battle with the Grizzlies early this week is the fact that veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple could still remain out of the lineup with an injury issue. Although, the Grizzlies are still missing a few key players of their own, namely wing Justise Winslow and power forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
Garrett Temple listed as doubtful vs. Timberwolves. Had been listed as out in previous games. But Billy Donovan said before the last game that Temple experienced an issue one day with his running. So didn’t sound like his return is imminent. Troy Brown Jr. getting opportunity.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 11, 2021
Chicago Bulls down Garrett Temple try to beat the Grizzlies
Temple has missed the last two weeks for the Bulls in dealing with this lingering hamstring injury. The last game that Temple played in resulted in a 14-point loss to the Golden State Warriors back on March 29. But this injury has hampered Temple on and off for the past month.
Meanwhile, the former top five pick of the Grizzlies Jackson Jr. has missed the entire regular season so far as he’s recovering from a knee injury. The Grizzlies do expect Jackson to be back in the mix before the end of the regular season, though.
Outside of missing Temple in this meeting with the Grizzlies, the Bulls are nearly at full health on this night. They need to use this healthy rotation to finally come up with a big win to stay ahead of the Toronto Raptors, and competitive with the Indiana Pacers, in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Bulls come into this meeting with the Grizzlies looking to snap their two-game losing skid. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are also looking to bounce back from a single-digit loss to the Pacers from the weekend.