Bulls blow 19-point lead in 101-91 loss
A glorious first quarter wasn't enough to overcome a miserable third for the Bulls in Charlotte.
At the start of Friday's game, the Bulls knocked down 9 of their first 10 shots from 3-point range and opened a 40-21 lead early in the second quarter.
It looked like an easy win, but nothing comes easy for the short-handed Bulls these days. Everything fell apart after halftime and the Hornets came back for a 101-91 win at Time Warner Cable Arena.
The Bulls went from 19 points up to 18 down with 4:56 remaining. They put together a late flurry to pull within 95-89, but Pau Gasol missed a jumper that would have cut the deficit to 4 with 51 seconds left and that was that.
“The first quarter was as well as we played all year, but then the last three quarters the second shot got us,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after the game. “So much of rebounding is will and determination and (the Hornets) are fighting for a playoff spot.”
The Hornets beat the Bulls 17-4 on the offensive boards and finished with a 55-36 overall rebounding edge, the Bulls' largest deficit this season.
This could have been an important road win for the Bulls (40-27). Instead, they dropped behind Toronto into fourth place in the East and have another tough road game approaching Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City.
Joakim Noah was back in the starting lineup after sitting out Wednesday's game at Philadelphia to rest a sore left knee. Jimmy Butler (elbow), Taj Gibson (ankle) and Derrick Rose (knee) remain sidelined and none of the three seem likely to play against the Thunder.
Aaron Brooks led the Bulls with 24 points, followed by Gasol with 18 and Tony Snell with 17. But none of the starters could keep up the quick early pace.
The Bulls' first 2 buckets of the game were Snell 3-pointers. Brooks hit 2, Mike Dunleavy 1, Nikola Mirotic 1 and Snell knocked down a third 3-pointer before the first quarter ended with the Bulls ahead 35-19.
Rookie Doug McDermott started the second quarter by knocking down a 3-pointer, adding 2 free throws and hitting another 3, which made the Bulls 9-for-10 from long range.
By halftime, the Bulls were 11-for-14 from behind the arc, with just 2 turnovers and Charlotte was shooting 35.6 percent from the field. With all that going in their favor, the Bulls should have had a bigger lead than 60-52 at halftime.
It disappeared quickly. The Bulls settled for too many long-distance jumpers and hit just 1 of their first 13 shots to open the second half. The Hornets piled up a 23-5 run until Mirotic finally scored the Bulls' second field goal of the third quarter off an offensive rebound with 1:06 left. Snell hit a 3-pointer to bring the Bulls within 77-70 after three.
McDermott hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth to bring the Bulls within 6, but they had the same problem with settling for outside shots and went five minutes before scoring another basket.
“When you are hot like that and you get a lead like that so early, it's a double-edged sword,” Gasol said. “It's like all of a sudden, 'I'm up 20. I'm winning this game.' That's a mistake that young teams make and we made that mistake today.”
The Bulls tossed up a season-high 32 attempts from 3-point range. They made just 4 of 18 in the second half.
Charlotte (29-35) outscored the Bulls 28-14 at the foul line. Center Al Jefferson didn't play because of a leg injury, but the Hornets put seven players in double figures, led by guard Gerald Henderson with 20 points.
Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter by following @McGrawDHBulls.