NEWSLETTER
On Wednesday night, the Chicago Bulls had 106 points to their name heading into the 4th quarter. Tonight, they had 50.
In arguably the worst game of the NBA season, the Bulls scored the lowest point total of any team this year in an 83-73 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Both teams played an ugly game, but by the end of the night, the Bulls won the prize for the ugliest! Yippie! At least they won something.
Honestly, this is an impressive feat. The Bulls couldn’t carry even an ounce of momentum from their highest-scoring performance in United Center history two nights ago (136-102 victory over the Atlanta Hawks). Instead, the team did the exact opposite and shot 30 percent from the field and 20.6 percent from 3-point range.
I’m not even quite sure what to say about this one right now, so I think I’ll let Twitter helm me do the talking:
This game has set the NBA back at least 30 years.
— Matt Peck (@Bulls_Peck) December 14, 2019
Let em fly. https://t.co/eZs0kKl2hy
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) December 14, 2019
This is the first NBA game in which neither team scored more than 83 points in three years (Jazz 82, Grizzlies 73 on December 18, 2016).
— Jeff Mangurten (@JeffGurt) December 14, 2019
Making Lauri Markkanen's benching for 14 minutes, 47 seconds straight in the 2nd half all the most mind-boggling is that he has been playing his best basketball of the season over the last 2 weeks.
It's just stunning.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) December 14, 2019
Jim Boylen explains that he benched Lauri Markkanen for nearly 15 minutes straigh tin the 2nd half because he played him more in the 1st quarter and because another group was the one that made the run.
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) December 14, 2019
Jim Boylen's opening statement "If there's a positive in this, in the past when we haven't been able to put the ball in the basket, we haven't guarded as well. I thought our defense was terrific tonight"
— Tony Gill (@thetonygill) December 14, 2019
The Bulls are now 1-8 following wins this season, with those 8 defeats coming by an average of 14 points per game.
— Jeff Mangurten (@JeffGurt) December 14, 2019
I tweeted it out, but even labeling this performance as embarrassing feels too kind.
Jim Boylen’s comments after the game really didn’t help the cause, and if you want to feel enraged, you can watch some of them in the thread here:
Jim Boylen asked about Lauri's minutes and how long he sat.
Was pressed about he's been playing better lately why do this. pic.twitter.com/lSGA7cG0ZG— Ⓜ️arcusD ▶️ (@_MarcusD3_) December 14, 2019
As you can see, Markkanen sat for practically 15 straight minutes of action despite playing his best basketball as of late. Indeed, he’s averaged 18.7 points per game on 52.6 percent shooting from the field over his last six games. But I suppose Thaddeus Young’s recent complaining got the coach’s attention, and he beat out Markkanen in minutes 27 to 26.
Once again, Boylen’s handling a situation in a ridiculous way.
Anyway, the Bulls continue to find a new way to hit rock bottom night in and night out, and I think we all know that’s only going to continue until we see some serious change. In what form will that come? Well, that’s up to the organization. The fans continue to do all they can to hold this team accountable, booing their own team off the court in an arena that’s seeing its worst attendance in over a decade.
So your move, Reinsdorfs.
