Bulls' Hutchison out 2-4 weeks with toe injury
Jim Boylen talks often about wanting players who care about the "Bulls across the chest."
Chandler Hutchison showed a little of that pride at the end of the Atlanta game on Wednesday and ended up in a walking boot, out 2-4 weeks with a right toe injury.
Hutchison said the injury happened in the waning seconds of the Bulls' 20-point loss to the Hawks. Atlanta had the ball and a big lead, there was about a two-second difference between the shot and game clock, so most of the players on the court stopped playing.
Then Hawks forward Justin Anderson passed out of a double team, took a give-and-go pass at the foul line and leapt toward the basket ready to dunk. Hutchison sprung to life and fouled Anderson, preventing the meaningless dunk. But Hutchison got the worst of the collision with the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Anderson and fell backward. A minor scuffle followed as Hutchison and Bobby Portis took exception to Anderson's actions.
"Kind of a bozo play from Justin Anderson," Hutchison said before Sunday's game. "Trying to go up for a dunk at the end. Kind of dumb."
Hutchison didn't think much of the injury at first. He practiced Thursday, then produced his first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds against the Clippers on Friday. No one expected a two-week absence after that performance, but injuries have been the only constant to this Bulls' season.
"You jam a finger, you tape it up, maybe you take some Advil and you're good," Hutchison said. "You don't ever think about missing an extended period of time, just from like a stubbed toe."
Insult to injury:
Chandler Hutchison never gave a second thought to playing on Friday and ended up logging a season-high 41 minutes.
"I just think from the extended minutes against the Clippers, there's that bruising, that kind of pounding throughout the game made it a little more tender," he said. "So they thought it would be a good idea to get it checked out. Once they did notice that, they thought it would be smart to shut it down and let it heal. They don't want anything lasting longer than it needs to."
Both Hutchison and coach Jim Boylen tried to look on the bright side of another significant injury for the Bulls. They recently lost fellow rookie Wendell Carter Jr. to thumb surgery, likely for the season. Hutchison had started 11 straight games at small forward after Justin Holiday was traded to Memphis.
"I'd rather be playing better and finding a groove when it happened than still struggling and not really making an impact and then it happening," Hutchison said. "It could always be worse. Hopefully I can get healthy and then continue where I left off."
Added Boylen, "We've got to look at the positives, too. We've identified that Chandler Hutchison is a heck of a (draft) pick, man, and he's going to be good. Wendell Carter is a heck of a pick and he's going to be a good Bull."
Bulls horns:
Lauri Markkanen became the first player in Bulls history to hit at least 3 baskets from 3-point range in seven straight games. He hit 4 of 7 shots from long range on Sunday and is 25-for-55 (40 percent) during the streak. … Both of the Bulls' two-way players, Rawle Alkins and Brandon Sampson, were active and in uniform Sunday, but neither played.