The Chicago Bulls ended their road trip with a 108-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, ending their seven-game road trip with a 2-5 record. They are now headed back home with more questions than answers. With Jimmy Butler out tonight, as well as Derrick Rose, the Bulls (27-24) started off slowly and dug themselves too deep of a hole to come out of. The Hornets (28-26), on the other hand, flew out to an 18-point lead and never looked back.
The Rose Effect
About an hour and forty minutes prior to tonight’s tip off, the Bulls announced that Derrick Rose would not play due to “general soreness”. However, he is expected to play Wednesday at home against the Atlanta Hawks. With Rose’s unexpected turn of events, back up point guards Kirk Hinrich, E’Twaun Moore and Aaron Brooks would have to fill that void
Bulls’ small forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. was back in the starting lineup after his season debut Saturday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Bulls might’ve lost concentration after hearing about Rose being ruled out of tonight’s game earlier. However, Gasol stepped up to fill the scoring and assists that Rose contributes.
Game Breakdown
The Bulls started the game off with a slow start. The team was lackadaisical and played without any urgency throughout the game. There was little to no effort shown tonight from the main bench players like Doug McDermott, Tony Snell and Bobby Portis. It makes a person wonder if the Bulls should've practiced during Super Bowl Sunday.
The three ball was the key to the Hornets second straight win tonight. Although the Bulls' were 40% (10/25) from behind the three-point line tonight, the Hornets were 38.9% (14/36) from behind the arc. It was evident tonight that the Bulls need another wing player that can defend as well as score. As well as the offense has been going for the Hornets tonight, their defense didn't take a back seat either. The Bulls were not as aggressive tonight as the Hornets. The Bulls shot 11 out of 14 (78.6%) tonight from the free throw line, while the Hornets shot 24 out of 31 (77.4%) from the charity stripe.
Pau Gasol was the Bulls' leader tonight as he tried to give the Bulls that extra effort they needed to dig themselves out of the hole and compete. Gasol ended the game with a near triple double of 22 pts, 10 rebounds and 7 assists as he tried to rally the Bulls. Other than Gasol and Dunleavy, other players had started to step up like Taj Gibson, and Cameron Bairstow, even though they stepped up late, they helped early enough for the Bulls to give a little more effort in the 4th quarter than they did in the first three quarters.
The Bulls, who are now in 7th place in the East, are going to face the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday. With no uncertainty that Rose will play that game or not, things are not looking to be in the Bulls' favor heading into All-Star Break. Despite the loss, Taj Gibson is still hopeful about their season and making a deep playoff run with the roster they have.