The Bulls dropped to 2-6 with a complete collapse in their 118-112 loss to the Lakers Tuesday night at the United Center. Here are four observations:
The Bulls shrank again in the big moments
After giving their more inspired effort on the young season through three quarters, the Bulls completely fell apart. The Lakers opened the fourth quarter with a 16-0 run, the first 14 points coming with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the bench. The Bulls didn’t score until a Zach LaVine jumper after 4 scoreless minutes.
A unit of Quinn Cook, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, Troy Daniels, and Dwight Howard led the charge. James didn’t enter until the 8:37 mark and no Lakers starter scored until James’ jumper with 4:19 left.
Caruso at one point stole the ball in a pick-and-roll situation with LaVine and Tomas Satoransky and then powered through a LaVine foul on the ensuing fast break for a three-point play. Even worse, chants of “Let’s Go Lakers!” erupted throughout the building.
The Lakers outscored the Bulls 38-19 in the fourth. Their defensive intensity and pressure in the period completely overwhelmed the Bulls.
Lauri Markkanen continued to struggle
NBA
The third-year forward was touted for a jump, perhaps to All-Star status. Instead, he scored in single digits for the third time this season. Worse, he attempted just two free throws. He got blocked on one dunk attempt by Davis in which he didn’t try to power through contact.
Markkanen looks like a completely different player from the one who posted a monster game in the season opener in Charlotte. He’s missing open 3-point attempts, not aggressively attacking the rim and grabbed just three rebounds against the Lakers. He has never been a player to force much, and he looks lost in coach Jim Boylen's equal-opportunity offense.
The Bulls clearly need him to get going for their fortunes to improve.
The Bulls bricked free throws again
After missing 11 of 25 on Sunday in Indiana, the Bulls finished 12-for-23 against the Lakers. That may be a small thing, but they missed free throws as their lead grew to 19 points, another example of not putting away a team.
The free throws came back to haunt the Bulls and helped spoil a night in which Chandler Hutchison made his season debut and plenty went right early.
The Bulls turned defense into offense. Tomas Satoransky talked after Monday’s practice about the need to do exactly this, and he and Kris Dunn were instrumental in a first-half surge. Both pushed the pace, particularly after turnovers or stops. The Bulls need more efforts like this one.
This game marked Satoransky’s best outing in this early going. His decision-making was superb. He set the tone offensively with his aggressiveness. The reserves delivered early. Coby White scored 18 points after shooting just 7-for-30 over his previous three games and passing up open shots to boot.
Wendell Carter Jr.’s emergence as a leader continued
Following his first-half block on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Carter screamed in frustration when no teammate corralled the loose ball and JaVale McGee scored. On several occasions, Carter grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic and attacked the rim.
Carter is one of the bluntest and most direct quotes following losses. He’s now playing equally forcefully more often than not. He posted his third straight double-double. Afterward, he talked about how much the loss hurt.
"I know I'm pissed," he said. "Not to talk about my past, but me coming from a winning culture and then coming here and last year wasn't so good for us and then this year, it kind of bothers me. I don't even care about my stats. I don't care about anything. Because at the end of the day, none of that matters if we're not winning. It's just something where everybody has got to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm bought into this team. Whether I play good or I don't play good, as long as we win, that's all that matters.' If everybody can say that in the room, we're going to be successful."
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