In what will hopefully be the worst two-game stretch of the regular season slate during the entire 2021-22 campaign for second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls, this team has now lost two straight. This all started for Donovan and the Bulls on Nov. 22 in a 32-point loss at home at the United Center at the hands of the former Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle and the division foe Indiana Pacers.
It seemed like there was at least a decent excuse, though, for the Bulls to lose to a healthier Pacers team on Nov. 22. The Bulls were missing both star center Nikola Vucevic and point guard Alex Caruso in that loss to the Pacers. But that was not an excuse that was valid for the Bulls in a tragically bad road loss to head coach Stephen Silas and the Houston Rockets on Nov. 24.
Not only is this the first time that the Bulls have a two-game losing streak against two opponents with losing records, but Chicago has now lost to the worst team in the NBA. The Rockets were riding a whopping 15-game losing streak coming into this game. Their last win came roughly one month ago against one of the other bottom teams in the NBA standings in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
An off night for DeMar DeRozan drowns the Chicago Bulls in an embarrassing loss to the Rockets
The Bulls had a really bad third quarter in this loss to the Rockets, in which they were downed by a margin of 17 points. The fourth quarter was better, but it wasn’t enough to climb back into the lead. The Rockets would end this game with a win by the final score of 118-113.
Here’s a look at two studs, and one dud, from the Bulls’ horrifying and embarrassing five-point loss to the now two-win Rockets on the road on Nov. 24.
Duds from Chicago Bulls horrifying loss to the Rockets: Coby White
This really was a frustrating stretch for third-year point guard Coby White since he made his season debut for the Bulls in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers last week. Coby only really had one good game in a half-dozen tries since making his season debut in returning from shoulder surgery that he got during the offseason.
And that win impressive outing for Coby in six tries with the Bulls this season came in the Nov. 21 win at home over the New York Knicks. Coby did register a season-high 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. But Coby can’t seem to find his rhythm otherwise since making his season debut with the Bulls.
In this tragic loss to the Rockets, White managed just three points in 15 minutes on the floor. He shot just 1-of-5 from the field, 1-of-4 from beyond the arc, and didn’t have any attempt from the free-throw line. White also came up with one rebound, two assists, no steals, no blocks, and no turnovers.
Granted, there was a key eight-second violation call on the Bulls that looked to be a miscommunication between Caruso and White. A lot of that fault has to be placed on White as some sort of turnover.
This was not a great game for White as he couldn’t really get his footing on either end of the floor, or even running in transition. Some of his three-pointers looked far off and his timing in the game just didn’t look right when he was leading the Bulls’ charge in transition.
We knew it was going to be a bumpy process to some degree to work Coby back into the lineup. Here’s to hoping that patience will still eventually win the day with the former Tar Heel.
Lone stud from Chicago Bulls horrifying loss to the Rockets: Lonzo Ball
I have to give a ton of props to the former Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans 6-foot-6 point guard Lonzo Ball for the way he played against the Rockets. Few Bulls players should’ve had a chip on their shoulder the size that Lonzo did in this meeting with the Rockets given his flat performance in the Nov. 22 loss to the Pacers.
It was a difficult decision here to pick between Lonzo and the fellow former Lakers point guard Caruso as to who the one stud would be for the Bulls. Lonzo and Caruso were both really good for the Bulls in this game.
But the fact that Lonzo had such a strong response out of the gates after posting a goose egg in terms of points for the first time this season in the loss to the Pacers meant that he got the one stud spot on this list. Lonzo was great for the Bulls on both ends of the floor in this one.
Lonzo finished this game up with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, with no attempts from the charity stripe. He also registered five rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocks, and three turnovers.
The box score stats for Lonzo did a nice job of illustrating the true impact he had in this game.
And maybe the worst thing that Lonzo did in this game was something that wasn’t even his fault. There was a downright lame call by the umpire on the sidelines late in this game that not only resulted in a foul for Lonzo but canceled out a three-pointer that he made. The ref apparently claimed that Lonzo took down his defender, but that should still count the basket no matter what.
Duds from Chicago Bulls horrifying loss to the Rockets: DeMar DeRozan
There’s no doubt about it, the former San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan had a true off night for the Bulls in this loss to the Rockets. The Bulls are just going to need DeRozan to be better down the stretch oftentimes if this team wants to win these games as they should.
But that is an unrealistic amount of pressure to expect DeRozan to perform like a First or Second All-NBA Team caliber night in and night out. This is why the Bulls are supposed to have other sources of scoring. Star shooting guard Zach LaVine had a decent fourth quarter but still had three turnovers while shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc and 60 percent from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, DeRozan finished up this game with just 17 points on a whopping 19 field goal attempts. He shot 6-of-19 from the field, 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. Anytime that it looked like DeRozan was finally starting to find his rhythm shooting from the field and getting to the charity stripe, the Rockets would respond with a big bucket.
Along with his 17 points in this game, DeRozan had five rebounds, seven assists, one steal, no blocks, and two turnovers. What is crazy about DeRozan’s stat line in this loss to the Rockets is the fact that he was a team-high +13, despite shooting just 31.5 percent from the field. But we’ll need to see a strong response from DeRozan against the Orlando Magic on the road on Nov. 26, just like we saw from Lonzo in this game.