Josh Giddey doesn’t have plans to cool off any time soon.
Throughout Wednesday’s 122-117 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the guard pulled up from behind the arc with something nearing audacity as he continued the hottest streak of his tenure with the Chicago Bulls.
Giddey entered Wednesday’s loss shooting 24-46 (52.2%) from 3-point range in February. He proceeded to go 4-for-4 from behind the arc, improving to 56% on the month. This is a monumental turnaround from the rest of the season when he shot only 32.7% from deep.
Of course, it didn’t matter. The Bulls — undersized and short-handed — ran out of tricks by the final minutes of the fourth quarter. When James Harden shot a 3-pointer to put the Clippers up by six with 14 seconds remaining, the ball sank through the net with a sense of being fated.
This was the 21st home loss of the season for the Bulls, who have only won 10 games in front of their own fans this year. Still, Wednesday’s loss had something the Bulls haven’t offered much at the United Center this season — a little glimmer of life.
The Bulls may be in a position to benefit more from their losses than their wins. But the players don’t care. And this young rotation is surviving with a scrappy style of play that succeeds in making opponents like the Clippers uncomfortable.
Here are four takeaways from the loss.
1. A lack of defensive fortitude.
When the Bulls beat teams, it’s rarely due to their defense. That continued to be the case against the Clippers, who dropped 122 points on 51.8% shooting in an offensive onslaught helmed by Harden, who scored seven 3-pointers.
Despite being a middling defensive team over the entire season, the Bulls have posted the seventh-worst defensive rating (118) in the NBA over the last 10 games. They succeeded in keeping the Clippers off the glass — giving up only seven points on 11 offensive rebounds — but struggled to shut them down in any other category of defense.
The Clippers won the shooting battle from behind the arc, going 19-for-37 to complement a strong night from Harden. But the Bulls were also vulnerable at the rim, where the Clippers missed only three shots. And these defensive struggles were only exacerbated by the Clippers’ ability to capitalize on mistakes, scoring 29 points off 16 turnovers.
2. Tre Jones brought a lift off the bench.
The Bulls didn’t necessarily need more guards — but they did need a new secondary motor for the offense. Tre Jones provided that splash off the bench on Wednesday, going 7-for-9 from the floor to provide 16 much-needed points as the highest scorer in the secondary rotation.
When Jones made a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to cut the Clippers’ lead down to two points with about five minutes remaining, Coby White popped off the Bulls sideline to hug the guard so hard he nearly fell to the hardwood. And the charge Jones drew on Bogdan Bogdanović with 1:53 remaining set the table for the Bulls to attempt — and, ultimately, fail — to pull off the upset win.
It wasn’t just Jones who found his footing this week. Two of the team’s newest players were the standouts of the night. Zach Collins tallied a career-high 17 rebounds and a season-high six assists as he stepped in for starting center Nikola Vučević for the second consecutive game, tying Giddey with 21 points to co-lead scoring.
3. Tough night for the rookie.
While other aspects of the Bulls’ offense showed promise despite the final result, Matas Buzelis never established himself in Wednesday’s loss. The game marked an expected road bump for the rookie, who finished with as many turnovers as made baskets (2).
Buzelis couldn’t crack the Clippers defense. He mishandled the ball around the rim and coughed up turnovers while attempting to muscle through the frontcourt. Kawhi Leonard terrorized the rookie on defense, blocking one of his dunk attempts and beleaguering him with the ball in his hands.
After flailing through the first three quarters, Buzelis played two minutes and 17 seconds in the fourth quarter before he was tugged completely out of the rotation. He finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes of action.
4. Another short-handed outing.
The Bulls spent another night with the smallest version of their roster as two of their three centers sat out due to injury. Vučević was sidelined with a calf injury that also held him out of Monday’s game, although Donovan said both absences were “proactive” to prevent further injury.
Backup center Jalen Smith also missed the game due to concussion protocol. Donovan said he is progressing through the steps of being cleared after struggling with sensitivity to light earlier in the week following a concussion incurred in Saturday’s loss to the Phoenix Suns.
The absence of Ayo Dosunmu — who is dealing with shoulder discomfort from a long-term injury — further diminished the Bulls roster.
