NEW YORK — The Bulls were pursuing a little bit of history Sunday.
With a victory in the back end of a home-and-home against the Knicks, these Bulls would have trailed only the 1996-97 Michael Jordan-led team for the best start in franchise history. That squad opened 12-0.
The chase, however, ended with a thud.
Thanks to a night on which the Knicks shot a scorching 48% from three-point range (20-for-42), the crowd at Madison Square Garden saw the home team knock the Bulls from the unbeaten ranks with a 128-116 victory.
That left the defending champion Thunder as the only unbeaten team in the early stages of the season and served as a reminder to the Bulls (5-1) that they can’t take a night off from the details.
‘‘Physicality wasn’t there,’’ guard Josh Giddey said, summing up the loss. ‘‘They just went through our chest all night. We didn’t rebound the way we needed to; we had talked about that pregame. They shot the ball really well, and you’ve got to find ways to win when teams are knocking down their shots like that.’’
Not that Giddey didn’t try. He notched his first triple-double of the season (and eighth with the Bulls) with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, but he only could do so much.
The Bulls entered the game allowing opponents to shoot a league-low 30.1% from three-point range. That included yielding only 9.2 made threes per game. But the Knicks destroyed those numbers.
Head coach Billy Donovan, however, wasn’t even upset about the shooting.
‘‘They shot it great, so give them credit, but we shot the ball well, too,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I thought it was all the physicality things. Because of the offensive rebounds, because of the number of times they got to the free-throw line, that kept us from running.
‘‘Then I thought they went through us at times. They were more physical, had a presence at the basket more than we did. There were some loose-ball opportunities we didn’t come down with. These are the things we have to do.”
And the signs were there early that the Bulls weren’t doing them.
Yes, the Knicks shot 6-for-10 from behind the arc in the first quarter, but they also beat the Bulls at their own game, outscoring them 9-7 on fast-break points.
Just like that, the Bulls found themselves trailing 34-24 after 12 minutes. The details Donovan has been preaching just weren’t there.
‘‘For us, seeing the first five games, the level in which we were trying to do those things, I didn’t think we were at that level [Sunday],’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I don’t want to say it’s a step back because I understand that with the way we’re trying to play at both ends of the floor there is an enormous physical commitment to that.
‘‘We didn’t do the things at the level that we needed to.’’
It’s hard to throw Giddey in that group, however, considering he and forward Matas Buzelis were the only starters who didn’t finish in negative numbers in terms of plus/minus.
Not that it came as a surprise, given that Giddey always has played well at the Garden, with a handful of triple-doubles on his résumé there.
‘‘I love it,’’ Giddey said of playing at the Garden. ‘‘When I was a kid growing up, the Garden was a place I wanted to play my whole life, so [I’ve] got to make the most of it when we’re here.’’
The good news for the Bulls is that they recognized their shortcomings in the loss after the game and seemed eager to make sure things were fixed by Tuesday, when they host the 76ers.
‘‘It’s another good team in Philly coming in, so we’ve got to address what we need to,’’ Giddey said.