Third-quarter burst sends Pelicans flying past Bulls
A week ago at the United Center, the New Orleans Pelicans hit just 3 of 19 attempts from 3-point range, but still managed to beat the Bulls.
In Wednesday's rematch, the Pelicans blistered the nets from long range and the logical result followed. The home team rolled to a 124-110 victory, sending the 6-9 Bulls to their third loss in a row.
For the game, the Pelicans knocked down 17 of 33 shots from 3-point range. The 3-pointers really came into play at the start of the third quarter. The Bulls trailed by 5 at halftime, then watched New Orleans open the second half with 3-pointers on its first three possessions. The lead quickly grew to 14 and the Bulls never recovered.
"Some of those (threes) in the first half, we did a pretty good job contesting, but there was probably six of them that we did not, that were way too uncontested," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said after the game. "I thought the difference in the game was I thought in the first half we turned it over way too much, but it was still only a 5-point game. I think the way we started the third quarter to me was the disappointed part."
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 28 and Zach LaVine added 25, but there were plenty of empty stats for the Bulls in this game. Alex Caruso scored 13 points off the bench and hit 3 of 4 3-pointers. Patrick Williams left the game in the fourth quarter after appearing to twist his ankle.
C.J. McCollum topped New Orleans (9-6) with 23 points, while center Jonas Valanciunas added 22. Forward Zion Williamson didn't play due to a foot injury and the Pelicans were playing for the second-straight night after beating Memphis on Tuesday, while the Bulls had two days off prior to this one.
Needless to say, this season is starting to head in the wrong direction for the Bulls. After starting 6-6 with a hectic schedule, it seemed like the Bulls were ready to take a breath, regroup and maybe make their move. Instead, they relaxed, lost a close game to the Pelicans at home, then showed no sense of urgency in blowout losses to Denver and New Orleans.
The Bulls have two home games coming up against Orlando and Boston, then depart for a six-game, non-circus road trip that starts in Milwaukee and includes stops in Phoenix and Golden State.
The Bulls used the "Draction" lineup to deliver a 13-0 run in the second quarter and erase an 8-point deficit. The group with Goran Dragic, Caruso, LaVine, Derrick Jones Jr. and Andre Drummond was able to speed up the game and create some easier baskets.
The problem in this matchup is New Orleans has taller versions of the Bulls' scrappy bench players in 6-8 Trey Murphy III and 6-7 Herbert Jones. Starting in place of Williamson, Murphy delivered 19 points and 10 rebounds while hitting 5 of 6 3-pointers.
If the Bulls could re-create the fast-paced style with the starters, they might be in better shape. But it's always tough to compare a second unit to the starters, because the subs play when the best players on the opposing team are not in the game.
At the start of this one, the Bulls were moving slow, not sharing the ball and settling for outside jumpers. DeRozan tends to hold the ball when the Bulls need scoring, but he hit an efficient 11 of 15 shots and tied for the team lead with 7 assists. LaVine hit 9 of 22 shots with 5 assists.
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