Bulls lose heartbreaker to Warriors on late 3-pointer
The Twitter video of Steph Curry knocking down 103 consecutive corner 3-pointers during a workout at the Advocate Center probably wasn't designed to intimidate the Bulls.
Instead, the Bulls seemed to rise to the occasion, using some 3-point prowess of their own to carry a lead all night. But Golden State capped a frantic comeback with a 3-pointer by Damion Lee from the top of the key with 1.7 seconds left to hand the Bulls a crushing 129-128 defeat Sunday at the United Center.
Zach LaVine had given the Bulls a 2-point lead with five seconds on the clock. He drove past Kelly Oubre, used his shoulder to create space against Juan Toscano-Anderson and drained a 14-foot pullup.
"I think the losing's really got to hurt them and I mean that in a healthy way, because they put a lot into it, I thought," coach Billy Donovan said after the game. "Obviously, the last play you know it's going to Curry and it was. We wanted to do everything we could to take it out of Steph's hand late. Give their guy credit, he made a really tough shot.
"I thought our guys battled and competed and executed and did some really good things. We didn't handle their little bit of zone pressure. The 24 turnovers inevitably really hurt us."
LaVine poured in 33 points, nearly matching Curry's 36. The Bulls finished with four 20-point scorers. Lauri Markkanen scored 23, Wendell Carter Jr. 22 and Coby White 20.
Markkanen left the game late in the fourth quarter with what Donovan said was a calf contusion.
The Bulls (0-3) took control of the game by hitting 8 of 14 3-pointers during the third quarter. Their lead peaked at 83-73 after a Carter 3-pointer with 4:28 left in the third.
The Bulls led by 9 points with 3:58 left, but Curry led a comeback and the Warriors tied it on Kevon Looney's tip-in with 16.9 seconds left.
"We went a little bit too early with our play, when we got Zach downhill," Donovan said. "We probably should have waited a few more seconds."
Donovan said he watched the video right after the game and found a slight flaw in the Bulls' closing defense, with Tomas Satoransky guarding the inbound pass.
"Sato was really trying to do a great job, we almost got a five-second count," Donovan said. "What ended up happening which really caused as problem, when they threw the ball inbounds, Sato jumped. I was watching Curry and we did a good job of taking away the play.
"As he (Satoransky) was in the air jumping to try to deflect the pass, his man ran in and as he landed, he was just a step or two late. Such small margins If Sato didn't jump, we probably would have been in a really good spot."
After a couple of rough games to open the season, Carter rose to the occasion against No. 2 overall draft pick James Wiseman. Carter piled up 13 rebounds, to go with his 22 points, while Wiseman had 7 points and 3 boards.
With his initial 3-pointer of the night, Steph Curry became the third player in NBA history to knock down 2,500 shots from long range, joining Ray Allen and Reggie Miller.
Curry hasn't shot it well in games so far, though, and finished the night 5 of 15 from long range against the Bulls. Oubre went 0-for-6 and has now missed the first 17 3-point attempts with his new team.
Donovan stuck with the same starting lineup on Sunday and tried to use some veterans down the stretch. Garrett Temple fouled out late and was replaced by Satoransky. Otto Porter came in when Markkanen got hurt and hit a corner 3-pointer off a Carter offensive rebound to put the Bulls ahead 126-121 with 54.1 seconds left.
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