Pelican guard Jordan Poole sprinted to the left corner in the fourth quarter after receiving a screen and immediately launched a three-pointer that hit the top of the backboard.
The Bulls had an opening to continue cutting into the Pelicans’ lead, but immediately turned it over after Poole jumped the passing lane for a transition layup.
Those are the breaks, and the Bulls didn’t create enough good ones of their own with their poor shot-making in Sunday’s 114-104 loss to New Orleans. Two of the Pelicans’ five wins have come against the Bulls.
A poor offensive showing by the Bulls was the catalyst for Sunday’s loss. The offense was as cold as the frigid weather throughout Chicago. The Bulls shot 26.5% from the three-point line and 41.3% from the field. Despite the low percentages, coach Billy Donovan lauded the Bulls for their process in generating those three-point attempts.
“The way we played tonight is a sustainable style because even though we shot the ball incredibly poorly, we gave ourselves a chance,” Donovan said.
The Bulls were more connected defensively than they were in previous games, but the Pelicans also shot a ghastly 24.2% from the three-point line and entered Sunday with a bottom-five offense in the NBA. So the Bulls put up more resistance, but they weren’t facing the Nuggets.
In the fourth, the Bulls trailed 92-88 after Kevin Huerter’s three-pointer, but couldn’t keep chipping away at the lead as the Pelicans went on a 26-10 run to put the game out of reach.
“We competed at a high level,” said guard Coby White, who scored 20 points on 1-for-10 shooting from three. “We competed … just some nights that the shots ain’t gonna fall, and those are nights we got to figure out how to get over that hump when we cut it to one or we take the lead by a couple points. We got to figure out how to get over that hump on nights like this.”
White wasn’t too concerned about his poor shooting night, knowing that the law of averages would turn in his favor sooner rather than later.
Donovan said it’s good for the team if White is getting up 10 three-point attempts because of how dangerous a scorer he is and how it opens up driving lanes for the rest of the team.
The only Bulls in a rhythm were Kevin Huerter and Patrick Williams, who combined to shoot 6-for-12 from three. The rest of the team shot 7-for-37 from three and missed mostly wide-open looks. The Bulls scored 46 points in the paint and Donovan noted that they wouldn’t be able to make enough two-pointers to offset the three-point difference.
But maybe Isaac Okoro shooting eight three-point attempts is playing into the Pelicans’ hands. A once potent Bulls attack has been toothless as of late, and the team isn’t good enough defensively against most opponents to survive rough shooting nights.
Over the last two weeks, the Bulls were 28th in offensive rating according to Cleaning the Glass. The slump has coincided with many Bulls players being in and out of the lineup, or on a minutes restriction. White said that the team was trying to build off Friday’s second-half performance against the Hornets, but acknowledged that everyone is still trying to find their timing as players have shuffled in and out of the lineup.
“Everybody has to find their rhythm, and so it’s gonna take time, but we ain’t got a lot of time on our side,” White said.