Beat-up Bulls lose to Brooklyn; Essengue out for season
The Bulls are officially getting stomped in the battle of attrition.
Seven of the 15 players on their regular roster were sidelined by injuries Wednesday against Brooklyn, and the Bulls announced before the game rookie Noa Essengue will undergo surgery on his left shoulder and miss the rest of the season.
The result was their fifth straight loss, a 113-103 defeat against a 4-16 Nets squad at the United Center. Four of five losses in this skid were against teams at least 10 games below .500.
Josh Giddey produced a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists but didn't get enough help.
“I'm not going to make any excuses, because I always think players want opportunities to play and compete,” coach Billy Donovan said after the contest. “For some guys, this might be the best opportunity they get. To me, you should be playing all-out and crazy hard and really, really physical. I don't think we did that.”
The Bulls' most glaring issue in this game was they couldn't connect from long range, finishing minus-12 in made 3-pointers.
Last Friday's loss in Charlotte was the first time this season they didn't make at least 10 3s — they went 8 for 36. Against Brooklyn the Bulls were 7 for 30, while the Nets tandem of Michael Porter Jr. and Noah Clowney combined for 11 by themselves.
It's not like that's a make or break stat, though. In the other three defeats in the five-game skid, the Bulls shot 40% or better from long range and still lost.
At the same time, the Bulls struggled to finish in the paint (30 of 56, 54%) against Brooklyn's tall front line, and they had 8 shots blocked. That's a similar story to what happened Monday in Orlando, when the Bulls did shoot well from 3 but had 11 shots blocked.
Against Brooklyn the Bulls trailed by double digits for much of the second half and every comeback attempt fizzled.
“I just believe if you've got 10 guys out there and they're all committed to helping and working with each other, and covering for each other — I'm not saying you're going to win every game,” Donovan said. “But you can be in a game.”
Essengue, the 6-foot-8 forward from France, was the No. 12 pick in last year's draft. He was viewed as a project to begin with, appeared in only two NBA games with the Bulls this season and didn't score in six minutes.
Essengue, who will turn 19 on Dec. 18, did play well in four G-League games. He averaged 23 points, 8.5 rebounds and shot 50% from the field for the Windy City Bulls, but hurt his shoulder in a Nov. 28 game, which in part led to this decision.
“He had been dealing with some shoulder stuff to begin with,” Donovan said. “I think he ended up going for a rebound and his arm got jerked. He didn't dislocate his shoulder, but he's got some looseness and some movement in there that they need to tighten up for him or that's going to continue to happen.”
According to Donovan, the two sides felt it would be better to get the issue fixed now, with a plan of being healthy by next summer.
Coby White (calf), Kevin Huerter (hamstring), Tre Jones (ankle), Jalen Smith (hamstring) and Isaac Okoro all missed the game against the Nets.
Donovan added some updates, saying Huerter will be reevaluated in a week, and Okoro likely won't be back soon.
“When he gets into certain extension going backward, he gets some pain going down his leg that they're trying to get resolved, which quite honestly is going to take time,” Donovan said. “Until they can eliminate that, it's going to be hard for him to come back and play.”
The only good news was Dalen Terry returned after missing five games, while forward Zach Collins is hoping to make his regular-season debut on Friday against Indiana after suffering a broken bone in his hand during the final preseason game.