The 8th seed will have to wait, folks.
Cool, at least I don’t have to tell people this is a load of barnacles. https://t.co/y8itsa1vET
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) December 24, 2019
The Chicago Bulls failed to expand their two-game winning streak tonight after dropping a close battle to the Magic, 103-95.
With that said, both teams traded leads in this one, and the Bulls managed to show some continued progress from their previous two games. Zach LaVine kept up his hot play with 26 points, while Tomas Satoransky scored 20 points thanks to four makes from downtown.
Tomas Satoransky has broken the 15-point mark in 3 straight games for the first time in his career.
— Jeff Mangurten (@JeffGurt) December 24, 2019
Tomas Satoransky continues his run of strong play, putting up 20 points in tonight’s game against Orlando and hitting 4 of 5 shots from downtown. pic.twitter.com/sAZPoN6uiS
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 24, 2019
Unfortunately, no one else on the Bulls could kick it into high gear, and as the game went on, the Bulls couldn’t keep up. Walking away from the road trip with three wins and the 8th seed would have felt like some solid progress, but alas the playoff chatter will have to wait.
Besides, in a lot of ways, sitting in a playoff spot right now would just feel like a mirage. After the Bulls play the Hawks later this week, the schedule turns quite gloomy. Four teams above .500 with the Bucks, Jazz, Celtics, and Mavericks lie ahead, so if the Bulls really want to prove their worth as true competitors in any sort of playoff race, picking up any wins against those teams would be far more convincing.
At the end of the day, the Bulls are slowly showing small signs of improvement here and there, but nothing substantial enough to flip the script moving forward. Onward.