Kris Dunn adds insult to (tailbone) injury after another frustrating night

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Kris Dunn’s frustrating season took another hard turn on Monday and it was then followed by a hard foul that might keep him out of Wednesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Dunn didn’t practice on Tuesday afternoon at the Advocate Center and is questionable for tomorrow night’s affair as the Bulls look to break an 11-game home losing streak.

Dunn took the nasty fall late in the third quarter of the Bulls’ 112-99 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. He collided in mid-air with Bucks center Robin Lopez while attempting a layup. No foul was called and play continued as Dunn laid on the ground for some time before the Bulls got the ball back and called timeout.

Head trainer Jeff Tanaka looked at Dunn during the timeout and the Bulls point guard actually returned to the game when play resumed. But the stint lasted less than a minute as a hobbled and limping Dunn was forced to commit a foul just to get himself out of the game.

He went to the locker room after that but returned in the fourth quarter and actually played the final 5 minutes. He didn’t look like himself in those minutes and was seen grimacing at times and moving rather gingerly. In that 5-minute stretch the only statistics he logged was a turnover and a personal foul.

After the game Dunn, who had an ice wrap on his back, said he expected he would be sore in the morning but that the goal was to be ready for Wednesday’s game.

Lost in the shuffle of the injury scare – Dunn missed three weeks last season with a concussion after falling on the floor after a dunk – was another ugly performance from the Bulls’ point guard.

Dunn finished 1 of 9 with 2 points and 6 assists in 33 minutes, and he failed to get to the free throw line for the fourth time in five games. The Bulls offense has picked up steam in the last few weeks but Dunn has been left behind, averaging a meager 9.6 points on 37 percent shooting and 6.1 assists in nearly 32 minutes in his last 16 games.

He said he’s getting to his spots on the floor – he’s always preferred midrange shots – but the lack of free throw attempts and 3-point consistency continues to plague him.

“It’s on me to knock them down at the end of the day. I feel like no one can stop me from getting to my spots. I’m confident in the shots I take. It’s on me to knock them down.”

He also now has the unenviable but important task of finding three streaky scorers in Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Otto Porter while also staying aggressive himself and looking to score. Such is life in today’s NBA for a point guard but it’s something he’ll need to improve on as the Bulls continue to evaluate him over the next two dozen games.

His assist numbers have been impressive; taking out a zero-assist effort in Brooklyn, Dunn has tallied six or more assists in seven of his last eight games and continues to look for open shooters. His roll man in Wendell Carter Jr. being sidelined hasn’t helped his cause, and Zach LaVine has taken on a more prominent passing role, but Dunn is still working toward improving in any way he can and work toward having more consistency.

“Keep working on my game. There’s games where they go in, there’s games where it’s not. But the great players make sure they keep working on their craft and making sure when they get to their spots they’re deadly.”

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