3 takeaways from the Chicago Bulls' overtime loss at MSG, including Nikola Vučević's rough night in crunch time
The Bulls came out of the All-Star break with newfound energy Thursday night, pushing the New York Knicks to overtime before losing 113-111 at Madison Square Garden.
Josh Giddey scored a season-high 27 points as the Bulls shot 19-for-48 (39.6%) from 3-point range, returning to a semblance of their up-tempo offense — only to run out of gas, allowing the Knicks to go on a nine-point run in overtime.
A good loss was still better than a bad loss, which had been the case ahead of the break as they attempted to forge a new identity without Zach LaVine.
'It was good for us to have a break,' guard Coby White said. 'I think we just played with more energy tonight and we played with more of an identity.'
Still, effort doesn't count for much on the score sheet.
The Bulls' skid dates to the trade deadline, and they lost for the 14th time in 18 games, falling to 22-34. Yet they remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, a fitting encapsulation of the purgatory the Bulls likely will occupy for the rest of the season — stringing together loss after loss but retaining a spot in the play-in tournament due to the miserable status of the rest of the conference.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
1. Nikola Vučević struggled in KAT matchup.
The Bulls pushed their chips into one key matchup against the Knicks — Vučević versus Karl-Anthony Towns. The big matchup appealed to the Bulls, who had lost their main firepower, LaVine, who helped to buoy their last two wins over the Knicks.
The offense ran heavily through Vučević early, helping the center unlock his shooting after a dismal stretch before the break. Vučević sank a pair of 3-pointers to score a team-high 14 points in the first half as turnovers derailed the rest of the Bulls.
The Knicks, however, won the matchup in the end. Vučević's scoring dropped off — he took only six shots in the second half and missed all three of his attempts in overtime, finishing with 21 points. Knicks wing Mikal Bridges blocked his shot at the end of regulation, and Vučević missed the final attempt at a tying basket in overtime.
Towns continued a recent streak of savvy scoring, dropping a game-high 32 points with relative ease despite going 2-for-10 from behind the arc.
2. Go-time for Julian Phillips — but no-show for Dalen Terry.
Forward Patrick Williams missed Thursday's game after undergoing a platelet rich plasma injection in his right knee, a procedure that will sideline him for at least two weeks. Rookie Matas Buzelis had already been elevated into the starting lineup in favor of Williams before the All-Star break, but the injury carved out a role for fellow wings Phillips and Terry to play more minutes.
Both players are embracing the next two weeks as an opportunity to build on a season of growth. But while Phillips stepped into the secondary rotation as the backup option in the fluid wing/forward position, Terry didn't play in the loss.
Phillips led the secondary unit with 12 points and six rebounds while going 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
3. Jalen Smith injury deepened the Bulls' size disparity.
The Bulls already were short-handed without Williams. But they suffered another important frontcourt loss when Smith took a shoulder to the face from Towns in the second quarter. The backup center immediately dropped to the court, where Towns accidentally fell on top of him before the play was whistled dead.
Smith was ruled out for the rest of the game with a face injury. His absence gave a steadier diet of minutes to new addition Zach Collins, who shot 0-for-4 in 14 minutes, 50 seconds.
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