Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
The Chicago Bulls’ three-game win streak ended Friday night at the United Center when the Golden State Warriors posted a 140-131 victory.
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Here are 10 observations:
---A dizzying fourth quarter featured Steph Curry scoring 15 of his 27 points. The Warriors posted opponent season-highs for points and assists with 38. They feasted on Bulls’ mistakes, scoring 22 points off 12 turnovers and enjoying 21 second-chance points. Jonathan Kuminga got the Warriors’ momentum going with a strong third. He finished with 24 points off the bench, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range as the Warriors sank 20 overall.
---The loss wasted DeMar DeRozan first 30-point game since Dec. 11. He scored 39 points as the Bulls shot 58.1 percent overall with 31 assists. Offense wasn’t the problem as Coby White and Zach LaVine each scored 25 points and LaVine added eight rebounds and seven assists. Defense and turnovers were.
---The Bulls sank three of their 18 3-pointers in a flurry over the final 48 seconds of a 75-point first half, the highest-scoring half of the season. It marked the second straight game the Bulls posted a season-high for 3-pointers after making 19 on Wednesday night against Houston. LaVine sank one with 48 seconds left and then White sank two in the final 24 seconds. The Bulls posted 17 assists in the first half alone and shot 69 percent.
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----White scored 10 first-quarter points, including two of three free throws when Kevon Looney fouled him just 16 seconds after tipoff on a 3-pointer. He had 21 points by halftime, marking a career-high 18th 20-point game for one season.
---Curry missed his first five shots and scored just six points in the first half, missing seven of nine shots overall. Alex Caruso hounded Curry over almost every screen.
---But this being the Warriors, they erased a 13-point halftime deficit by the 6 minute, 52 second mark of the third quarter. Klay Thompson, just 2-for-8 in the first half, scored 11 points in the first 4 minutes and 17 in the third quarter overall. Thompson’s third-quarter performance brought back memories of his 14 3-point performance at the United Center in 2018.
---Warriors coach Steve Kerr made an adept halftime adjustment, putting Andrew Wiggins and his length on White to start. White had to sit at the 6:03 mark with his fourth foul and also drew a technical foul for arguing the call.
---Kerr then extended his mojo by shifting to a zone defense that showed some matchup tendencies and completely stymied the outside shooting flow that defined the first half. The Bulls missed all nine of their third-quarter 3-point attempts as the Warriors won the quarter 48-20. It marked the most points allowed by the Bulls in a quarter all season.
---For the second straight game, Dalen Terry played ahead of Jevon Carter in the rotation as Carter drew his second straight “Did Not Play---Coach’s Decision” designation. Donovan is using a nine-man rotation.
---The Bulls canceled their scheduled morning shootaround because of the inclement weather that hit Chicago. “When I got up this morning, it was coming down pretty hard,” Donovan said. “We just didn’t know it was going to turn to rain. But having guys drive in that weather to shootaround, back home from shootaround and back to the arena with what they were forecasting would’ve been a little tough. So we came in here (the United Center) and got our work in here before we started our normal shooting time. So we were still able to prepare.”