The Chicago Bulls' nightmare of a stretch continues as the Bulls lost their seventh straight game Sunday night — a 123-91 blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors.
The alarming part? Draymond Green was in street clothes, and Stephen Curry stayed on the West Coast.
It was the largest win of the season for Golden State, and a comfortable wire-to-wire win. For Chicago, things are getting bleak. Over the last seven games, the Bulls have the second-worst point differential at -84, only behind the lowly Washington Wizards as they head into the NBA Cup break at 9-14.
An offensive no-show for the Bulls
Before the game, if you'd asked me the three things the Bulls would need to do well to win, I would have said don't turn the ball over, make threes, and get on the offensive boards. Well, the Bulls coughed it up 15 times, they went 11-of-40 (27.5 percent) from three, and Golden State outscored them 23-14 in second-chance points.
The Bulls are first in the league in transition points this year at 33.2 points per game. In this one, they only managed 13, and couldn't speed up a Warriors team that thrives in half-court defense (third in defensive rating.
The Bulls have the worst offensive rating in the league over the last five games (103.2) — yes, worse than the Wizards. And yesterday marked the first time Chicago was held under 100 points this season, against a team missing their best defensive player.
Bulls' poor bench contributions
The Bulls were known for their depth during their dreamy start to the season, and then, injuries hit them hard. During this skid, they've ranked in the bottom 10 in bench points per game with 34.6 and got exposed by the Warriors on Sunday night. Golden State won the bench battle 51-32.
Code red on the defense
The Bulls allowed the Warriors to knock down 22 threes and shoot 50 percent from the field without Curry. Chicago ranks 26th in the league in defensive rating over the last 10 games and has a net rating of -12.1, third-worst behind the Utah Jazz and the Wizards.
The Bulls also went from being one of the best rebounding teams in the league to the bottom tier over the last seven games in both rebounds and offensive rebounds per game. The Warriors — a below-average rebounding team — out-rebounded them 51-38 on the glass Sunday.
When you combine poor shooting with no defensive identity, and a quiet bench, this 32-point loss to the Curry- and Green-less Warriors feels more of an alarm bell than just a fluke.