Gasol shines, but Bulls lose
There's nothing very insightful to say about the Bulls' 103-95 loss to Portland on Saturday at the United Center.
The Bulls actually played pretty well, but missing three of their top four scorers, they just didn't have enough to climb out of the well against a Blazers team that has now won 16 of their last 20 games.
Pau Gasol topped the list of nice efforts. He recorded the first triple-double of his Bulls career and set a career-high in assists. Gasol's stat line was 22 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists, adding 3 blocks for good measure.
"You try hard, you try to play your best," Gasol said. "When there's not the reward of the win, everything doesn't taste as good, no matter how well you play individually. We're in a team sport."
The list of the missing has become familiar to Bulls fans. Derrick Rose sat out his third straight game with right hamstring tendinitis, Jimmy Butler is up to nine games missed with a left knee strain, while Nikola Mirotic has been out 14 games recovering from an appendectomy and hematoma removal. Joakim Noah is out for the year with a shoulder injury.
"You can't really dwell on it and be frustrated or think about it every day. 'Oh, we wish certain guys were back and certain things were different,' but they're not," Gasol said. "So just got to go out there and do your best."
The rise of Doug McDermott continued. The second-year forward scored 18 points and threw down his fifth dunk in the last four games. Rookie Bobby Portis grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to go with 10 points. E'Twaun Moore continued to be a passable version of Butler, scoring 19 points.
But there were holes in the box score, too. Tony Snell went scoreless in 27 minutes played. Coach Fred Hoiberg tried to take advantage of Snell's long arms against Portland's high-scoring guards. They had success stopping C.J. McCollum, who went 1-for-12 from the field, but Damien Lillard poured in 31 points. The Blazers' deep bench also gave the Bulls plenty of problems.
After the game, forward Taj Gibson talked about the frustration of playing a pretty good game, but not having enough players to win a game like this.
"It's frustrating because you know the character of the guys in here. Everybody wants to win, everybody means well," Gibson said. It's tough. We're trying to win for Fred, man. He's a good coach. We're just trying to push through and try to get these wins whatever it takes."
Another bright spot was the Bulls producing a season-high 33 assists. With the young players sharing the ball and gaining confidence, Hoiberg tried to picture a silver lining down the road.
"When we do get our guys back, if we can keep this same type of movement, we'll have a chance to win some games here down the stretch," Hoiberg said. "It is what it is right now. Guys are getting the opportunity to go out and show what they can do."
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