Takeaways from Bulls-Magic: Jabari barely plays, Lauri is still acclimating

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The Bulls showed some positives in Mexico City, but struggled to execute in the final minute in a 97-91 loss to the Magic.

Here are four takeaways from Thursday's loss.

Parker does, in fact, appear to be out of the rotation

A report came out just before the game that Jabari Parker expects to be out of the rotation going forward. With Chandler Hutchison out sick, the report added that Parker could play against the Magic. He did play, but only four minutes and none in the second half.

Monday against the Kings, Parker played 19 minutes, which became his season-low in minutes before Thursday in Mexico City. He missed his only shot and had an assist and a rebound in his four minutes.

"I think it's a matchup thing," coach Jim Boylen said after the game. "I also think that it's hard to play three fours. It's very difficult to do that. We played him some minutes at three and I didn't think that was the way to go the rest of the game."

With Lauri Markkanen back in the starting lineup and Bobby Portis building up his minutes in his second game back from a knee injury, the power forward spot is back at full strength. Boylen had the chance to play Parker at small forward with Hutchison out, but still limited his minutes.

"Him playing four is difficult right now. Him playing three, there may be an opportunity there. I like Hutch. Hutch was sick tonight so Jabari got some of those minutes at three in that situation."

Boylen said he talked to Parker about his role and where he is in the rotation, but didn't go into much more detail than that.

"Going forward he's part of our team and it's not about the individual in our team," Boylen said. "It's about playing your minutes the best you can and we'll where his minutes are going forward."

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune caught up with Parker after the game.

Markkanen is still reacclimating

This was Lauri Markkanen's sixth game of the season. He has shot better than 35 percent in just one of those games.

On Thursday, the Finn was 2-for-10 from the field (2-for-6 from 3-point range) for seven points. He had five rebounds in 28 minutes. The seven points were the lowest since his return.

Boylen admitted Markkanen was standing around too frequently.

"I have to do a better job of getting Lauri off the move," Boylen said. "We ran a couple things for him to try to get him off the post and we just didn't get the ball to him. That's my job. I got to do a better job of that."

LaVine still good with Dunn

Kris Dunn has only played three games so far this season, but in each game Zach LaVine has been very efficient offensively. Dunn could be the key to bringing the best out of LaVine.

LaVine had 23 points on 10-for-18 shooting. He added five assists, but did have six turnovers. LaVine has shot 11-for-15, 7-for-13 and 10-for-18 in Dunn's three games.

"Zach has been very focused and he's trying to lead," Boylen said. "He's trying obviously to make shots, score the ball. He's trying to make good decisions and turn the ball over less so Zach is trying to do all he can do to help us win."

Kris and Bobby

In their second games back from injury, Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis both saw their minutes increase from Monday against Sacramento. Both are still coming off the bench.

Dunn finished with five points, four rebounds, two assists, four turnovers and four fouls in 26 minutes. Portis had a better night with 15 points (6-for-11 shooting) and seven rebounds in 22 minutes.

"I thought they both had moments where they were great for the team," Boylen said. "I thought Bobby's defense was really good. I thought he took the challenge on (Aaron) Gordon and he competed and I thought Kris was better tonight than the last game we played and I thought he looked like his legs were under him more tonight. I also thought he led better tonight when he was out there from the point guard position. Those guys are going to keep developing for us."

 

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