Clippers dominate Bulls to complete season sweep |
CHICAGO - By this point in time, everyone can safely assume that the Chicago Bulls (32-35) are what their record says they are, which is practically a .500 team. Just when you think they are about to turn their season around with a massive Overtime win against the Pacers, they drop another game at the United Center to the Los Angeles Clippers (42-23) 126-111.
Losing to the Clippers isn't something to hang your head about, as this team has been one of the better teams in the Western Conference over the past two months and did end the Bulls winning streak out West last weekend. To make matters worse for Chicago, they were coming off an overtime win against the Pacers on Wednesday, so many of their players were still battling some fatigue in this one. It's hard enough to beat the Clippers in a back-to-back when healthy, but with the Bulls down Coby White, who is listed as day-to-day, things were going to be that much more challenging. To the Bulls' credit, several players stepped up when they had to throughout the contest, but the bottom line is that this team was gassed from the night before, and it started to show during the second half. For the second straight game, Chicago benefited from a bevy of double-digit scoring, as their balanced approach lately has been nice to see. The problem in this one was having just one of those double-digit players score 20 points, as Demar DeRozan led the way again with 21 in 35 minutes. Despite being near the top of the league in minutes played, you would never guess it, as DeRozan continues to play well and earns more money with every passing game. Nikola Vucevic and Alex Caruso joined DeRozan as they combined to score 36 points between them. Vucevic finished 19 points, with Caruso adding 17. Caruso is the one to discuss for a minute, as he scored 42 points in the past two games while knocking down five triples in each. This is the Caruso the Bulls have been waiting for, and should White be out longer, he will be the one that needs to continue stepping up his game. Filling in for White in this one was Torrey Craig, who returned to the starting lineup for the first time since December and came away with 12 points. With four starters landing in double figures, the Bulls had plenty of balance, even if none of those players had a particularly great game. Chicago also had a pair of players step up massively off the bench, with Andre Drummond grabbing 15 points and Jevon Carter adding 12. For Carter, he has been a disappointment in his first year with Chicago, and if he can provide scoring like this more consistently the rest of the way, the Bulls will be a better team. While the Bulls may have been down White, the Clippers were also short-handed as James Harden was unavailable for this game. That didn't bother Los Angeles, as Paul George and Kawhi Leonard had their way with the Bulls. Both combined to score 28 and 27 points, respectively, but they also shot 23-29 as they couldn't miss. George was especially on fire as he missed just one shot all game and proved to be a matchup nightmare for Chicago. Like the Bulls, there was plenty of scoring to go around, but it was George and Leonard who made the biggest difference. After having a big game against the Bulls last Saturday, Norman Powell was at it again. He flipped the script and took it to the Bulls off the bench. Powell led the Clippers bench with 18 points while knocking down three triples. Rounding out the double digit scorers for the Clippers was Bones Hyland and his 17 points while Terance Mann finished with 12. Although the loss wasn't the result the Bulls were hoping for, they continue to hold their own for a play-in berth as they remain ninth in the East. With some winnable games coming up in the next two weeks, Chicago has a chance to make one last push to move up the standings, but that can only happen if White is healthy.
