Enhanced Box Score: Bulls 121, Hornets 91 – March 31, 2023

An already-bad Charlotte Hornets team was operating with a full injury report, so it was no surprise when the Chicago Bulls opened the night up with a 19-5 start.

They scored 10 points off turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the game. It only took about 2 minutes for four of the Bulls’ five starters to find the bottom of the net. If we’re being completely honest, the Hornets looked like a lineup of shell-shocked G-Leaguers.

To their credit, however, the Hornets woke up. The team that won three-straight games coming into this evening started to show shades of itself. James Bouknight, in particular, helped the Charlotte offense find a rhythm with some big-time makes from downtown. By the time the mid-way point of the 2nd quarter came around, the Hornets found themselves in just a two-possession game. But then Zach LaVine said enough is enough.

Continuing a recent promising trend of the Bulls NOT crumbling when adversity strikes, LaVine put his foot on the gas. The two-time All-Star dropped 12 points in the final 5 minutes of action, 9 of those points came in the final 2:34 of the half. While he did knock down a couple of cold 3s over this stretch, it was mainly his explosive drives to the rim that gave the Bulls the boost they needed to end the quarter. They walked into the locker room up 62-46.

The second half ended up a copy-and-paste of the first. The Hornets were able to string together a little run in the 3rd quarter to make things feel closer than they should be. But the Bulls put on their big boy pants and ran away with things in the 4th quarter.

While each member of the team’s “Big 3” was able to crack the 20-point threshold, it was honestly the Bulls’ bench that put this game away. Patrick Williams – despite somehow not finishing with a freakin’ rebound – put up 15 points in a +13 showing. Meanwhile, White dropped 11 points with 7 assists and 4 rebounds. Andre Drummond also put together a nice night in his return after a one-game absence, grabbing 11 rebounds with 2 steals in just 14 minutes of action.

So … yeah. The game wasn’t all that entertaining, but it really wasn’t supposed to be. The Bulls did what they needed to and got the win, and I remain relieved that they have finally figured out how to do that. Better late than never, right?

Check out the full box score here.