Chicago Bulls: 3 takeaways from loss to Golden State Warriors

2. Third quarter was the turning point

Earlier I touched on how the Warriors took control of the game in the third quarter. During that pivotal 12-minute stretch, the Bulls were outscored by a 32-12 margin. As bad as that sounds, the story doesn’t end there.

The Bulls converted just six of their 25 attempts from the field and went nearly seven minutes without a field goal.

Talk about a serious dry spell.

To be honest, it would be difficult to overcome this kind of futility against any team in the league that has an average level of talent. When you go against the Warriors – a team that has won two of the last three championships and currently leads the league in scoring (115.9 points per game), shooting percentage (50.9 percent) and 3-point shooting (38.9 percent) – the margin for error is even smaller.

Taking into consideration that the Bulls managed to outscore the defending champs in the other three quarters, including 34-24 in the final frame, the game could have easily gone in the other direction if not for the team’s poor showing in the third quarter.