Home / News / Chicago Bulls miss chance to reach .500 mark with 112-102 loss to LA Clippers, ending 3-1 streak – Chicago Tribune

Chicago Bulls miss chance to reach .500 mark with 112-102 loss to LA Clippers, ending 3-1 streak – Chicago Tribune

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LOS ANGELES – Chasing a winning record is still a long way off for the Chicago Bulls, who fell to 31-33 after losing 112-102 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. But as the Bulls head home after a 3-1 win, something approaching consistency is starting to emerge on the field.

In November, the nine-game gap between the Bulls and the .500 mark seemed almost insurmountable. This is what happens when a team opens its season with a demoralizing defeat, requiring players to send their coaches out of the locker room to privately examine their failures. For the first 19 games, the Bulls didn’t know who they were.

The lowest point of the season came at the end of a 5-14 run that mirrored last week’s situation; a four-game swing to the East Coast against a mix of beatable opponents and top contenders. The Bulls lost all their games on this road trip, suffering a 27-point defeat against the Boston Celtics. As the team flew home from Massachusetts, they faced a grim question: How much worse can this get?

Nearly four months later, the Bulls found themselves in the exact opposite situation on the opposite coast: three wins behind them and a .500 record just two quarters away. Despite being half ahead, they couldn’t come close to the fourth-best team in the Western Conference, but the Bulls had finally established a clear identity in the middle of the East standings.

Despite the surge in momentum, the Bulls were nowhere near celebrating.

“It’s very sad because we had the opportunity to go 4-0,” Dosunmu said. “We have high confidence because we’re not leaving here feeling like a moral victory. We know we can’t take this back, but we know we are good enough to be there to win this game.

Here are three takeaways from the defeat.

1. Taurus starts out hot, cools off after Sagittarius

The first half epitomized how the Bulls could make trade-offs with top teams; He limited his opponents on offense, shutting down the Clippers 10 times while giving up five of his own turnovers. And most importantly, the Bulls won the first half from behind the three-point line despite Coby White’s quiet start.

The Bulls led 8-for-18 from 3 in the first half on a pair each from Ayo Dosunmu and Torrey Craig. Meanwhile, the Clippers played with a score of 5-for-19. This dynamic was reversed in the second half; The Bulls went 1-for-9 in the fourth quarter.

2. Clippers capitalize on mistakes in the second half

Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan shoots over Clippers’ Amir Coffey on March 9, 2024 in Los Angeles.

After a tough offensive game in the first half, the Bulls were ahead by 14 points in the first minute of the second half. However, the Clippers came back with an 11-0 run, troubling the Bulls.

After turning the ball over four times in the third quarter, the Bulls struggled to regain the consistency needed to stop the Clippers’ defensive pressure attack on the perimeter. The Bulls gave up 11 points and 10 second-chance points off turnovers in the second half.

3. The standings remained unchanged after the 3-1 match

Whether or not the Bulls win or lose Saturday’s game would not affect their standing in the East, where they are stuck in 9th place.

Despite winning three in a row before Saturday, the Bulls are still four games behind the No. 8 seed Indiana Pacers. They kept their distance from the Atlanta Hawks to avoid falling to last place in the play-in tournament, but the Bulls don’t have a strong path to advance in the play-in seed and the margin is too small to be a clear frontrunner. play-off spot – 18 games left in the season.

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